Clippers’ Chris Kaman has strong showing against Nets

Reporting from Newark, N.J. — For Chris Kaman, the strong showings are starting to outnumber the less-than-stellar ones.

This was his best performance, in terms of production, in his 11 games since returning from his lingering ankle injury. Kaman, coming off the bench, had 23 points and 10 rebounds and two turnovers in a 102-98 overtime loss to the New Jersey Nets on Friday night.

He was 11 of 17 from the field and seven of 11 in the first half.

“I have good nights. I have bad nights,” Kaman said. “I just want to finish the season on a strong note for myself and for my teammates. We had a pretty good string going.

“We almost snuck out with a win. We still have a ways to go to get our chemistry. We’re building it. Hopefully next year they don’t make too many changes and we still have the same team here.”

Traffic woes

You would have thought the Clippers would have had their lull to start the game, not in the third quarter.

Why?

The Clippers almost always travel to games in two buses, and Friday, it took more than an hour and 15 minutes for their second bus to get to the arena. Even a short drive in the New York metro area can take on epic proportions, especially on a Friday night.

Then again, almost every team from L.A. should be used to bad traffic.

Etc.

This was just the Nets’ second home sellout of the season — an announced crowd of 18,711.

But it wasn’t all due to the first appearance of Blake Griffin in Newark. There was the powerful lure of a certain postgame artist — Hezekiah Walker had a gospel concert scheduled at Prudential Center.

There was also entertainment from an unexpected source in the third quarter. A bunch of NBA mascots were on hand, mainly, for the birthday of the Nets’ mascot.

Apparently the Orlando Magic’s mascot (Stuff) got into a scuffle with at least one fan and was led away by security.

You might say the Magic have had better weeks with higher authorities.

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