Chris Kaman 23 Rebounds, 24 Points!

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">LOS ANGELES (AP) -- One of Mike Dunleavy's biggest projects during his three seasons as Los Angeles Clippers coach has been turning Chris Kaman into a top NBA center.

So it was fitting on the night Dunleavy got his 500th regular-season victory that Kaman would have one of his best games as a pro.

The 7-foot center scored 24 points and set career highs with 23 rebounds and four steals Monday night in a 95-87 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"Defensively, it was probably the best game I've played -- with the steals, the blocks [three] and the rebounds," Kaman said. "I play hard, I play with a lot of energy. Some nights I don't have the energy, and you can obviously tell the nights that I don't. I just try to play hard and go after the rebounds the best I can, and they were coming to me tonight."

It was the second time in Kaman's three-year career he has had at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in the same game. He also did it on Dec. 23 at Charlotte in a 97-88 victory.

"When he did that against Charlotte, they didn't have a whole lot of bigs," Dunleavy said. "They were playing small against us. This game, he had two 7-footers in there in Mark Blount and Kevin Garnett the whole time. He never had a small guy on him.

"He did a great job being physical, creating his own space and being relentless, as far as going after loose balls. He was around the basket, he was huge and just claimed everything. And we needed all 23 of those boards."

The Timberwolves begrudgingly sang Kaman's praises as well.

"He was the story of the night," Ricky Davis said. "We came in expecting him to hit the boards hard, and he killed us. It's tough anytime somebody is playing like that."</div>

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Impressive night for Kaman, he also had 4 steals and 3 blocks. With the win the Clipper's tied their win total from last season, and Dunleavy recorded win #500 for his career.