Cassell, Clippers shine against Suns

Welcome back, Sam Cassell.

Granted, the veteran point guard returned from a left calf sprain nine games ago, but it did not appear to be the same Cassell.

That chatty, jittery, cheek-to-cheek grinning Cassell?

He showed up Tuesday at Staples Center in a 97-90 victory over the Phoenix Suns before 16,003.

He was there, seemingly making every shot, deftly doling out assists when needed, even diving into the crowd for a loose ball when called for.

He had a game-high 32 points -- making 15 of his 21 shots -- and added seven assists and six rebounds in 32 minutes.

“I can still play,” Cassell said afterward. “I can still play in this league. Just give me the opportunity, baby.”

The opportunity amounted to the Clippers (11-23) finally ringing in the new year with a win after losing four in a row.

It is the arguably the Clippers’ best win of the season.

They completed their six-game homestand, one of their longest of the year, at 2-4. Their only other win came on New Year’s Eve over the dismal Minnesota Timberwolves.

With each spaced-out victory comes a deep exhale, but the Clippers, simply, have been holding their breath for too long this season.

But they will gladly take the win over the Suns, who they knocked out of a tie with the Lakers atop the Pacific Division.

“It doesn’t matter if you get up by 20 or down by 20 against them because of the pace they try and play,” Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy said.

Corey Maggette added 21 points. Chris Kaman, playing on a sprained left ankle, scored only nine points but grabbed 18 rebounds for the Clippers, who shot 52.5%. They made at least half their shots for a second consecutive game after not reaching that mark for the first 32 games.

Amare Stoudemire scored 29 points for the Suns and Steve Nash added 14 points and 13 assists. The up-tempo Suns shot only 40.7%.

“We needed to score more points than Sam did and we didn’t,” said Suns Coach Mike D’Antoni. “Our offense failed us.”

It was Cassell’s evening.

Two of his best outbursts came this season against the Suns -- when he went for 26 points in one game against them and 21 in another.

But the calf sprain sidelined him for 12 games and it took a while for him to get back to form.

He went through a recent funk in which he made three of 23 shots in three games, calling it one of the worst droughts of his career.

Out-of-town reporters routinely make it a point to detour into the Clippers’ locker room and ask Cassell if he thinks he would be a better fit on another team.

He said he wasn’t having fun on the court, the losses swiping the smile from his face.

Before the game, he sat by his locker calmly fielding questions about whether his 38-year-old body had anything left.

“They stick their best defender on me, so that tells you something right there,” Cassell said, of the Suns’ Shawn Marion guarding him.

The Suns started Marion on Cassell, but switched off of him, using the smaller Nash and Raja Bell much of the game.

“It gave me the opportunity to shoot the ball over some of those guys,” Cassell said.

His locker was swarmed afterward. Enough to block Aaron Williams from getting to his locker.

“It’s OK,” the reserve forward said. “We don’t get a lot of wins around here.”

The clock was about the only thing in the first half that impeded Cassell.

Cassell made seven of his 10 first half shots and had another taken away at the halftime buzzer because the officials ruled it left his hand just as the clock expired.

The win comes after the Dallas Mavericks’ Jerry Stackhouse made a buzzer-beating three-point shot to beat the Clippers on Saturday.

“The last two games were as good of basketball as we’ve played all year long,” Dunleavy said. “Hopefully, we can continue to play at this level.”

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jonathan.abrams@latimes.com