Van Exel Question: Rusty or Rested?

Nick Van Exel gets his chance to hit something else in another day: the ground, running.

“He will,” Laker Coach Del Harris predicted Tuesday. “Whether it’s as a starter or coming off the bench, either way I think he’ll be able to do it.”

Harris may want to continue to disguise his opening lineup until the last minute--suggesting that Van Exel, Sedale Threatt or Magic Johnson could start at point guard Thursday night in Game 1 against the Rockets--but there is no hiding the fact that the incumbent is returning from a seven-game layoff for giving an official a forearm shove at the most critical time.

Will he be rusty?

Will he be in sync?

Maybe neither. Maybe the image of the April 9 run-in with referee Ron Garretson will be replaced by that of a clutch performance. That would be so Van Exel.

“It gave me a lot of time to think about a lot of things,” he said of the the third-longest suspension for an on-court incident in league history. “It gave me a lot of time to get my legs back. Just to look at the big picture and get focused and everything, knowing that I missed seven games and my first game is going to be a playoff game. I’ve got to be sharp and I’ve got to be ready.

“I’m hoping it won’t affect me. You never know. Some guys respond great and some guys don’t respond at all, so I’m hoping I can respond great. Who knows?”

Van Exel will have gone 15 full days without game action, closer to 16 really, by the time 7:30 rolls around Thursday night. He has scrimmaged with the Lakers, he has practiced with them, but that’s not the same. Neither were the few times he worked out with Johnson’s touring team.

“I know how all the guys play and they know how I play,” Van Exel said. “I’m not worried about being in sync with them. [The concern is] probably more conditioning. You can condition as much as you want, but it’s never the same as NBA game conditions. You’re always going to get tired.”

Other problems may arise. Say, not getting any calls.

“For the next year after the next year,” Denver’s Dikembe Mutombo predicted not too long ago. “[Referees] talk to each other. . . . You’ll be in the game crying why you don’t get calls anymore.”

Harris disputes that notion. Van Exel? Ask again in a week.

“I’m more concerned with the playoffs, as far as not getting calls,” he said. “I’m pretty much looking forward to that. I’ve just got to go out and just play as hard as I can, and if they call things on me, just let it go. If they don’t call fouls for me, just let it go. Just play. I’m not going to win that battle.

“I made a mistake. I don’t think all the refs should come down on me. That’s part of the business, I guess.”

The Lakers went 6-1 while he was doing time.