Perkins Is Hurt; Lakers Beaten in Double Overtime : Pro basketball: Worthy’s three-pointers help L.A. stay in it but Rockets prevail, 126-121.

HOUSTON —  The Lakers came out of the preseason from hell, lost another starter and staggered onward.

They overcame a 16-point first-half deficit.

They tied the score in regulation on James Worthy’s three-pointer with no time remaining.

They tied the score at the end of the first overtime on Elden Campbell’s tip at :00.8.

Only then did they lose in double overtime, 126-121, to the Rockets Friday night, causing Houston Coach Don Chaney to wonder what he had to do to win a basketball game.

“Many, many times,” said Chaney, smiling wanly.

“I don’t know about the fans. I hope they enjoyed it. I certainly didn’t. It was painful.”

Last season, the Lakers won all three games here, including one in which Sam Perkins banked in a key three-point shot by accident.

Friday, it was Worthy who made the key three-pointer in regulation, then his next two tries in the first overtime as the Lakers came from five points behind in the last :38.

Worthy finished with 37 points. The three three-pointers were his personal one-game high.

“I was really proud of them,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “I was proud of every one of them.

“The effort is what really counts. If I get 81 more games like that, I’ll take my chances.”

However, if he never has another week like this, he won’t complain. The Lakers lost Magic Johnson and Tony Smith. They flew into a storm cell here, causing their plane to swoop and several of them to fly out of their seats.

“I was airborne,” A.C. Green said. “I did go airborne. It was funny. That was the highest I’ve ever been.”

Everyone else didn’t think it was so funny.

If they were wondering what else could go wrong, they wouldn’t have long to find out. Perkins caught a finger in his left eye in the first quarter, scratching his cornea. He had to leave the game.

The Lakers soon trailed, 40-24. The Rockets were putting on a dunk show and there was no reason to believe the Lakers would be turning things around.

“With Sedale (Threatt) in there, it was just a little shaky running the offense,” guard Byron Scott said. “We had to get everybody settled down.”

They did. Demetrius Calip, the free agent rookie the Lakers cut, who was en route to a CBA team in Columbus, Ohio, when they called him back, made his NBA debut in the second quarter and the Lakers went on a 14-2 run. With Threatt back in, they went ahead by 11 early in the fourth quarter.

The Rockets stormed back. With nine seconds to play, Kenny Smith’s free throws put them ahead, 97-94.

Worthy made a high-arching three-pointer over Matt Bullard, who was supposed to be covering him. Chaney tapped his temples, telling Bullard to think.

Bullard hadn’t seen anything.

Worthy made two more three-pointers in the last 38 seconds of the first overtime. On the latter, Bullard was covering him.

Worthy averaged only one three-point attempt a game last season--twice as many as he had the season before.

“Ten years I’ve been in the league,” Worthy said later, low-key as usual, “and I’m finally comfortable shooting that shot.”

The Lakers still trailed, 112-110. They got the ball back with 10 seconds left and set up an in-bounds play, but Hakeem Olajuwon knocked the ball away. The Lakers recovered and put the ball into Scott’s hands. Scott launched a three-pointer with three seconds left but missed.

Green, battling for position with Otis Thorpe, tipped the ball away.

It bounced off of the backboard to Campbell, who tipped it in, making the score 112-112.

Then, only then, in the second overtime did the Lakers fade away.

“The good news is we played a really tough game,” Dunleavy said. “The bad news, we’ve got to come back and play another one in 15 minutes.”

Actually, they had 24 hours before tonight’s game at Dallas. Count your blessings.

Laker Notes

A.C. Green missed some late free throws but scored 28 points and had 16 rebounds coming off the bench. . . . Demetrius Calip got assists on his first two NBA possessions. “I told myself before the game, ‘This is something you always dreamed about and it’s actually happening,’ ” he said.