CHICK WILL BE BACK ON HIS PERCH TONIGHT.

Byline: Tom Hoffarth Staff Writer

Barring any unforeseen calamity - and he's sworn off self-serve gas - Chick Hearn returns to his perch tonight for the first time in nearly four months when the Lakers face Utah at Staples Center.

Two letters from his doctors have been presented to the Lakers to insure the 85-year-old's recovery from both heart-valve replacement and a broken hip that also required an artificial implant.

``I'm excited and wonder how it will be with that headset on again,'' Hearn said from his Encino home Monday, even though he had been given orders by his physician to rest his voice.

``I have questions about the Lakers' ability for the rest of the season, but with Shaq back, there's one question that seems to be answered.''

The team has no grandiose plan to welcome back Hearn, who came out to watch the team play March 29. It will likely announce his presence after the player introductions just before tipoff, said Lakers spokesman John Black.

``Can you imagine how loud the place is going to be - and it should be,'' said Paul Sunderland, whose streak as Hearn's play-by-play replacement ends at a modest 56.

Hearn, in his 42nd season as the team's main play-by-play man, had missed only two games prior to the start of his streak of 3,338 consecutive contests spanning 36 years.

That ended with the Dec. 19 telecast from Houston when it was decided he needed the heart surgery. Two months after that, he suffered the broken hip when his car door slammed against him at a gas station.

Sunderland, who scrambled to fly out and join Stu Lantz for that game in Houston, will be at Staples Center tonight as well. He'll return as the host for the pregame show on Fox Sports Net.

Sunderland's seat on that job has been filled by Bill Macdonald and Jim Watson.

``This experience has been tremendous for me, just to fill in and cover the Lakers and hold down the fort,'' said Sunderland, a former volleyball Olympian and a longtime Los Angeles resident who grew up listening and learning the game from Hearn's broadcasts. ``If somewhere down the road this presents itself again, anyone in my position would have to consider it another tremendous opportunity.''

The Lakers play four of their last five regular-season games at Staples Center, with a trip to Portland on Sunday that will be nationally televised. Hearn plans to not only come back for them, but to continue to do home and road games throughout the playoffs.

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(color) Lakers announcer Chick Hearn has a thumb's-up attitude as he returns to the play-by-play booth tonight.

Mark J. Terrell/Associated Press