Puzzle pieces don’t fit yet

There could be some good times ahead for the Clippers this season if they get things figured out.

Determining how their pieces fit best, however, might take a while, and the puzzle was still scattered Wednesday night after a 112-104 loss to the Phoenix Suns in front of a sellout crowd of 18,422 at US Airways Arena.

Coach Mike Dunleavy thought the Clippers would be a work in progress to begin the season because of injuries to key players in the exhibition season, and it seemed that much was clear in their season opener.

Dunleavy experimented with lineups and combinations to challenge the Suns, who had more answers in rebounding from a disappointing loss Tuesday in their first game against the Lakers at Staples Center.

“We did better tonight with passion and energy,” said Phoenix Coach Mike D’Antoni, whose team eliminated the Lakers and Clippers from the Western Conference playoffs last season.

“We just have to push through. We push through the first two weeks, we’ll be fine.”

Phoenix point guard Steve Nash again helped to make things easier for the Suns.

The two-time NBA most valuable player had 20 points, 11 assists and made an assortment of big plays as Phoenix opened double-digit leads in the final two quarters.

Shawn Marion scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Suns, who had six players in double figures and shot 53.2% from the field.

Forward-center Amare Stoudemire also contributed off the bench while trying to regain his pre-injury All-Star form. In almost 25 minutes, Stoudemire had 15 points, including highlight-reel dunks.

“You can see his reservoir of energy is limited,” D’Antoni said. “When we get him back to full strength, he will be fast and strong.”

The Clippers got 28 points and 13 rebounds from Elton Brand, who started at center as the Clippers went with a small lineup against the speedy Suns, and 17 points each from Cuttino Mobley and Sam Cassell.

But the Clippers made only 42.7% of their shots, which usually isn’t good enough for a visiting team to win here against the high-scoring Suns.

Starting point guard Shaun Livingston missed nine of 13 shots and starting power forward Tim Thomas, playing against the team he helped to reach the conference finals last season, was two of eight from the field.

“The first half, we just missed so many easy shots,” Dunleavy said. “We hit a stretch in both halves where we took some bad shots, and they made us pay the price for it.

“As soon as we got out of character for what we were trying to do, they got out into the open court.”

Phoenix had 17 fastbreak points to only two for the Clippers. The Suns’ 48-30 lead in points in the paint was especially frustrating for the Clippers, who had a significant size advantage when they went to their biggest lineup of 7-foot center Chris Kaman, Brand (6-8), Thomas (6-10), Livingston (6-7) and Mobley (6-4).

“This is one of the worst teams to be bad against offensively,” Livingston said. “It’s hard when you’re not hitting shots. It shows in our field-goal percentage and the opportunities we missed.”

Livingston, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the third quarter, sparked a 12-2 run that pulled the Clippers to within 77-74 at the start of the fourth. The Clippers, however, failed to maintain their rhythm on offense, opening the door for Nash to slam it shut.

Phoenix opened a nine-point lead with Nash on the bench, and the margin was 11 with fewer than six minutes left after Marion’s layup on Nash’s nifty lob pass.

“We weren’t nearly as good as we were playing them in the playoffs,” Dunleavy said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

jason.reid@latimes.com

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Breaking even

The Clippers are 2-2 under Coach Mike Dunleavy in season openers:

2006-07 -- Phoenix 112, Clippers 104...at US Airways Center, Phoenix

2005-06 -- Clippers 101, Seattle 93...at Key Arena, Seattle

2004-05 -- Clippers 114, Seattle 84...at Staples Center

2003-04 -- Seattle 109, Clippers 100...at Tokyo, Japan