CLIPERS FIND RIGHT SPARK\Clippers 94, Phoenix 88.

Byline: Scott Wolf Daily News Staff Writer

The often-maligned Sports Arena had a rare air of intensity not seen since, oh, the last time the Phoenix Suns (read Charles Barkley) were in town.

The previous visit came opening night, as an enthusiastic crowd buoyed the hopeful and optimistic Clippers to an upset of the Suns.

The crowd was smaller Friday night, and the Clippers' expectations have fallen since the giddiness of the season debut, but L.A. retained the same amount of emotion, and it was good for another victory over the struggling Suns, 94-88 before 8,626.

It was one of the more satisfying efforts for the Clippers (12-20), demonstrating they could beat a team, any team, down the stretch.

"It's almost nicer when you winover a great player like Barkley," forward Loy Vaught said. "He's out there talking a lot. When you win, you gt thelast laugh. He makes it fun to play."

The always entertaining Barkley said "get ready now" when he checked into the game in the fourth quarter of the back-and-fourth contest.

But Clippers point guard Pooh Richardson turned out to be the man of the quarter. Richardson hit a 15-foot runner to give the Clippers an 89-88 lead with 2:13 left, stole a pass from Barkley on the ensuing possession and fed Vaught in the corner of hir usual 16-foot jumper with 28 seconds left.

The awareness to hit an open Vaught in the corner was an aspect of Richardson's game that Vaught said he missed earlier in the season, when Richardson was out with a stress fracture.

Richardson finished with a team-high 20 point, but credited the critical steal to coach Bill Fitch.

"Fitch told me to fake like I was going to (cover) Barkley. He called it. Barkley threw it right into my hands," Richardson said.

Another Clippers point guard, rookie Brent Barry, emerged from a brief slump by hitting 4 of 5 of his 3-point shots and finishing with 14 points.

The Suns (13-16), who are having trouble explaining their continuing subpar play, were unable to score in the final 2:13 and dropped to 0-2 against the Clippers. Revenge could come Tuesday in Phoenix.

"It's not brain surgery or rocket science, we're just not very good right now," Barkley said. "When we need a basket, we can't get it. When we need to stop somone, we can't."

Rodney Rogers, sidelined more than a month with a sprained ankle, made his return. Rogers was obviously rusty, missing a slam dunk and going 1 for 9 from the field.

Notes: Why was Clippers forward Antonio Harvey released by Vancouver, despite playing nearly 23 minutes a game? Harvey was placed on the injured list by the Grizzlies with a hip flexor. Although he quickly recovered, the Grizzlies wanted to keep him on the injured list so they wouldn't alter their current 12-man roster. Harvey then demanded to be activated or cut. "There was a lot of little problems, no major problems," Harvey said. "They dragged it out a little bit but that's part of the game." . . . Eric Piatkowski, who got an entire minute in the Indiana game, played five in the first half against Phoenix. . . . Brian Williams has switched from a pair of red and white shoes to blue and white, and naturally, has a unique reason. "My red shoes got me angry, he said. "Looking down at them. Blue keeps me calm. That's the color, 'tranquil blue.' " . . . Logan Vander Velden, cut Thursday by the Clippers, said he will remain in Los Angeles through the end of the month while trying to land a position in the CBA....Phoenix center Hot Rod Williams left the game with a strained right knee and played only seven minutes.