With Club Ced, Suns Cruise Past Clippers

PHOENIX — Cedric Ceballos, who became a role player after the Lakers acquired Shaquille O’Neal, is happy to be back with the Phoenix Suns, where he’s No. 1 in your program if not your heart.

Ceballos had 24 points and 10 rebounds Friday night as the Suns built a 21-point fourth-quarter lead and handed the Clippers their second consecutive loss, 110-93, before 19,023 at America West Arena.

“It was vintage Ced,” Clipper forward Loy Vaught said of Ceballos, who made 10 of 16 shots.

Ceballos said he harbors no grudge against the Lakers, who traded him Jan. 10 along with Rumeal Robinson for Robert Horry and Joe Kleine.

“I was very surprised and very shocked,” Ceballos said of the trade. “The trade was something I didn’t want and didn’t expect. I was very happy there and I loved working with those guys.

“At first you start doubting yourself and saying, ‘Maybe I’m not good enough.’ But then I just thought about it and I got a letter from Jerry West and I talked to Del [Harris], who explained it to me. You can’t be bitter about that.

“Jerry told me that it wasn’t a situation where they didn’t like my play, it was a situation where they wanted to get Robert Horry. Jerry told me he had a hard time coming home at night, because his kids are really big fans of mine.

“When Del told me about the trade on the phone he sounded so down and I told him, ‘Hey, Del, you guys have got a good team, players are going to come and go in your life.’ ”

Ceballos thinks the Lakers, who will be without O’Neal for eight to 10 weeks because of a knee injury, still have a good shot to win the NBA championship.

“Even though Shaq is hurt, they’ll still be a good team because time and time again they’ve proven that they can compete without a big body,” Ceballos said. “It will be kind of tough, but they’ll still be good and compete because Nick [Van Exel] has always been a leader and he’ll do the same thing and they have Eddie [Jones] and Del can always pull something out of his sleeve.

“Their whole lineup is destined to try to push for the championship. They look pretty good to me.”

Sun forward Danny Manning said Ceballos has made a quick adjustment since the trade.

“Ced has done a good job of just coming in and scoring,” Manning said of Ceballos, who has averaged 18.6 points and eight rebounds in 16 games for the Suns. “We’re not running a lot of plays for him, but he just grabs every loose ball near the basket and finds a way to score. He finds the basket quicker than anybody than I’ve ever been around once he gets the ball under the hoop.”

Sun guard Jason Kidd, who sat out 22 games because of a broken right collarbone, had eight points and nine assists in 22 minutes. Kidd entered the game with 3:17 remaining in the first quarter and triggered an 18-5 spurt as the Suns took control.

Kevin Johnson, who had a team-high 27 points and eight assists, moved to shooting guard so Kidd could play the point.

“The point guard is the one who has the ball,” said Kidd, who was acquired from the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 26. “It doesn’t matter if K.J. has it or I have it. If he has it I’m going to get out of his way. We play off each other extremely well. There’s nothing to determine who’s the point guard.”

Said Ceballos: “It’s the same situation when Magic [Johnson] came back and you also still had Nick with his great passing. It just makes the game so much easier for you to score, to move without the basketball, and the intimidation factor is there also.

“The whole game, intensity, just changed when the guy came in the game. That was entertaining. It’s going to be a great marriage between him and our basketball team.”