Left ankle sprain sidelines Kaman

MINNEAPOLIS — Center Chris Kaman sat out the Clippers’ 104-96 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday and is sidelined indefinitely because of a sprained left ankle.

Kaman, who suffered the injury in practice Friday, wore an air cast on his heavily wrapped ankle. The injury occurred as Kaman appeared to be regaining his form in consecutive games with at least 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Backup center Zeljko Rebraca has not played this season because of a back injury, and now the Clippers are more short-handed in the post.

Kaman said he “couldn’t even tell you right now” when he might return. “I landed on it wrong and turned it over the wrong way.”

In his last two games, Kaman had consecutive double-doubles for the first time this season. He scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against the Lakers and had 12 points and 14 rebounds against the Seattle SuperSonics.

The fourth-year player -- who signed a five-year, $52.5-million contract extension before the season -- is averaging 8.2 points and seven rebounds overall in a slow start. Kaman has made only 37.9% of his shots from the field after shooting a personal-best 52.3% last season.

“I’m trying,” he said. “My field-goal percentage is slowly climbing. I’m trying to get it back up there where it’s supposed to be.

“I’ve been taking good shots, I just haven’t been making them. In the last game I started making a couple.”

Kaman sat out most of the exhibition season because of a hamstring injury, which has contributed to his ineffectiveness and the team’s uneven play to this point, the Clippers said.

The Clippers are better than they’ve played, Kaman said, and they will prove it.

“We’ve struggled a little bit in games we should have won,” Kaman said. “The Lakers are good and Seattle is good, but we have a better team than we’ve shown. I’ll be back together soon ready to go.”

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TONIGHT

at Denver, 5 PST, FSN Prime Ticket, ESPN

Site -- Pepsi Center.

Radio -- 710.

Records -- Clippers 6-5, Nuggets 7-4.

Record vs. Nuggets -- 1-0.

Update -- The Nuggets lead the NBA in scoring at 111.2 points a game and have won four in a row. Forward Carmelo Anthony is the league’s top scorer with an average of 30.9 points.

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