Clippers Get Out a Broom : Pro basketball: They beat the Suns, 111-107, to complete an improbable sweep of a three-game home stand.

Charles Barkley caught everything but the Clippers on the rebound Saturday night.

He had 44 points and 17 rebounds, eight on offense, but the Clippers, two nights after an emotional victory over New York, got another one, beating the Phoenix Suns, 111-107, before 14,419 at the Sports Arena.

The Clippers have won three in a row and five of six, and they beat a team that had won four in a row. Ron Harper led the Clippers with 27 points. Danny Manning added 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and Mark Jackson had 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

“We were kind of flat early, the whole first half,” Harper said. “But once we got to the third and fourth periods, we knew what we had to do. We played a very good second half.”

More impressively, the Clippers swept the home stand by beating Detroit, New York and Phoenix.

“We’d have been shocked, I think,” Harper replied when asked what he would have said if someone had told him they would win all three games. “Those are three very good teams. We didn’t play bad all home stand, and we played three teams who will all be there at the end. If we keep playing like this and improving, we might just find ourselves there, too.”

Phoenix was behind, 77-66, in the third quarter before an 11-0 run, with Barkley accounting for nine of the points, pulled the Suns even. They then fell behind by five points after three quarters, but responded again, scoring on six consecutive possessions to open the fourth quarter for another tie, 92-92.

The Clippers moved ahead, 101-95, with 5:13 to play. But Phoenix mounted a final charge when Dan Majerle intercepted Harper’s inbounds pass at midcourt and went in for a slam dunk and then hit a three-pointer.

The Suns were behind, 105-104, with 2:04 to play. They got no closer, though, as Manning connected and then made two free throws with 41 seconds left for a 109-104 cushion.

The Clippers’ 58-57 halftime lead was tempered by concern and two ongoing problems. The concern was over Ken Norman’s sprained left ankle, which sidelined him for the rest of the night after he injured it midway through the second quarter. And the problems were brought on by Barkley and Stanley Roberts.

Barkley had five offensive rebounds in the first quarter and 14 points. He hit double figures in rebounds early in the second quarter.

Barkley had 23 points and 11 rebounds in the first half alone and was a major factor in keeping the Suns close, despite their shooting 38.5%.

“That effort doesn’t mean anything if you don’t win the game,” Barkley said.

Roberts was his usual self, which was bad news for the Clippers. Offsetting a couple of nice offensive plays, he got his second foul 2:26 into the game, stayed in, then got No. 3 about a minute later. Coach Larry Brown, having made pulling Roberts early a habit, seemed intent on keeping his young center in to play until fouling out.

Brown finally replaced Roberts after his fourth foul came with 5:48 to play in the opening quarter.

Clipper Notes

A day after the Clippers apparently withdrew a four-year, $10-million contract extension, Ken Norman expressed indifference toward remaining with the team, an obvious change from his longstanding expressed desire to stay. Asked whether he wants to re-sign with the Clippers--or if he wants to be traded before becoming an unrestricted free agent in July--Norman said, “If I’m here, I’m here. If I’m not, I’m not.” The sixth-year forward did not, however, commit to wanting to be traded.

Stanley Roberts went into the game averaging 14.4 minutes in seven appearances while battling injury and continuous foul problems, but Coach Larry Brown said his support is not wavering. “We got Stanley because we truly felt he was going to be there this season, and that it is just a matter of time,” Brown said. “We knew he was not going to be there overnight. That feeling hasn’t changed.” What has changed at center is the play of Loy Vaught, impressive after missing the first two games because of a sprained ankle. That has been a main reason Elmore Spencer, pegged as Roberts’ backup, went from 15 and 11 minutes in the first two games to a total of 26 since, heading into the Phoenix game. “It’s Loy,” Brown said. “It’s not Elmore.”