Nervous Time at Forum : NBA playoffs: SuperSonics don’t want to be ousted early again, but nor do the Lakers want to go back to Tacoma for Game 5.

The high-wire act that is the Seattle SuperSonics performs without a net again tonight, teetering and grasping for balance.

The Lakers will be the ones standing on the platform across the way with the wind machine on full.

One more slip by the SuperSonics means first-round elimination (again), to a lower-seeded team (again), after winning the opener (again), not to mention a summer that could be filled with changes to the roster and on the sideline. Again and again and again.

So Game 4 tonight might have double the appeal for some of the 17,505 who will jam the Forum for the 7:30 tipoff: the chance to watch the Lakers advance to the conference semifinals for the first time since 1991, this time against the San Antonio Spurs, and the chance to watch a train wreck.

Two years after coming back from the same 2-1 deficit to beat Utah in the first round, one year after blowing a 2-0 lead to lose to Denver in the greatest upset in NBA playoff history, being tight around the collar has become expected by the SuperSonics.

“I had a lot of coaches send a scouting report on us, and one of the tendencies this coach said we had was, ‘We played best when we had a sense of urgency,’ ” Coach George Karl said. “We will definitely have a sense of urgency on Thursday.”

Added star forward Shawn Kemp: “In the past, we’ve always played better when we had our backs to the wall. Hopefully, this is the case now.”

The SuperSonics figure to be armed with more than cliches. They may try to go inside more to Kemp, who has only 41 shots in the first three games despite consistently getting great position. They may try to force the ball out of Nick Van Exel’s hands more, hoping to force one of the other Lakers to initiate the offense. They may even have another lineup change, though Karl would not say.

The Lakers, meanwhile, figure to do more than wait for Seattle to implode. They too are feeling a sense of urgency, wanting to close out the series tonight and avoid a return trip to the Tacoma Dome for a deciding Game 5 on Saturday afternoon.

“To be honest with you, I think they (the SuperSonics) will come out like mad dogs the first five, six minutes of the game,” said Laker Sam Bowie, still trying to get his game back on track after a bout with flu. “And if we’re able to withstand that initial fight that they have, then I think we’ll get an opportunity to end the series here.

“On the other hand, I think there’s still some pressure on us knowing that we have to win Thursday’s game because by no means do we want to go back up to Seattle. So as much as the pressure is on Seattle, the thing I need to acknowledge to our guys is, the only thing we’ve accomplished so far is that we’ve put ourselves in a situation to end it Thursday. But we haven’t yet, so we need to realize that there’s still some heat on us.”

The motion was seconded.

“If they want to stay in the playoffs, they have to win the game, so we know they’re going to be ready and that they are a good team,” center Vlade Divac said. “What we did in the past, we put ourselves in a good situation. We didn’t do anything yet. We have to close the series.”

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Laker Notes

The Lakers suggest fans picking up tickets at will call arrive before 7 p.m. A significant increase in that area Monday before Game 3 created such a logjam that some people did not get to their seats until early in the second quarter. . . . Tony Smith, an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, might be playing his final games as a Laker after five years. His situation is even more uncertain compared to past free agents because of the season-long moratorium on contracts, so he couldn’t get a new deal with the Lakers even if both sides wanted one. “That stuff will take care of itself,” he said. “I don’t really have time right now to think about that.” Asked whether he would like to remain a Laker, Smith said: “This is a great organization and things are run good here and they have good people, but I’ve got to be concerned with what’s best for me. And if that means leaving a good organization for a better opportunity, then that’s what I’ve got to do.”