Lakers Do a Number on Tired Jazz, 110-95 : Pro basketball: Johnson has 31 points and 11 assists. Divac has 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Whomever the Lakers are chasing, the Portland Trail Blazers or just their own potential, they took another step Thursday night with a tidy thumping of the Utah Jazz.

Vlade Divac, who hadn’t had a double-figure rebound game against a .500 team in six weeks, took 12 of them and scored 13 points, too.

Terry Teagle played well again, scoring 20 points in 24 minutes.

And Magic Johnson, who is supposed to be accumulating assists en route to becoming the NBA’s all-time leader, had 11 of those and 31 points, too, leading the Lakers to a 110-95 victory.

“A big win,” Mike Dunleavy said. “We had to have this win to have a chance to catch Portland.”

Catch whom?

Even with this victory, Laker chances are minimal. They trail the Blazers by three games with four left--including Saturday’s at Portland.

The Blazers have won 12 in a row and play four of their last five at home.

“My feeling on it, we’re three (games behind) now,” Dunleavy said. “If we win Saturday, we’re two. They have to play in Phoenix the last game of the season. If we win Saturday, we have the tiebreaker (a 3-2 victory in the season series).

“If we get to the point where it’s not possible, we’ll start gearing up for the playoffs.”

Said Johnson: “We have to see what happens. They (the Trail Blazers) still get a schedule in their favor.”

The Jazz started the night, inconvienced to the tune of a morning flight from Salt Lake City after a Wednesday night game in which it came from 19 points behind to beat Dallas.

“I think we had three fouls called on us in the first half,” said Coach Jerry Sloan before Thursday’s game. “(Grinning) We were competing real hard.

“I can’t worry about that (travel). We’ve just got to come and play. We can’t be worrying about where the game is and all that nonsense. We’ve got a shot to win our division.”

Maybe the Jazz wanted to come from behind again?

Whatever, it was behind before you could say “playoff preview.”

The Jazz turned the ball over six times in the first quarter and the Lakers took a 23-12 lead. Terry Teagle hit his first four shots, dropped in a fast 10 points and it grew to 37-19 before Utah rallied.

The first half ended, appropriately, with Karl Malone missing a layup, then his own rebound. At the half, the Mailman was three for 14 and the Jazz was down 15.

At three for 16, however, midway through the third quarter, Malone got the range. He scored on a layup and a turnaround 17-footer as the Jazz went on a 14-2 run and cut the lead to 71-69.

Finally, it all caught up with the Jazz: the Lakers, the travel, fatigue after getting close, and the home team put it away late.

“What was really a shock to me was the way we came out,” Sloan said. “It looked like we were at practice. Like it didn’t mean anything.”

To find out what any of this meant to the Lakers, tune in Saturday.

Laker Notes

Magic Johnson had 11 assists and trails Oscar Robertson by 24. At his 12.7 average, he will break the record here Monday against Dallas. . . . Johnson made 18 of 18 free throws, tying a club record held by Jerry West. . . . Tony Smith suffered a bruised right thigh in the first half and didn’t return. With veteran Larry Drew in during the fourth quarter, an eight-point lead grew to nine. . . . Karl Malone, on his eight-for-25 shooting night: “I missed a ton of them. If I had made most of the layups I missed, the outcome would have been different.” . . . Jerry West’s mother, Cecile, died Thursday night in Charleston, W. Va., after a long illness.

* JAMES WORTHY: The Laker forward agrees to terms on a contract extension. C6