Clippers center Chris Kaman is very frustrated with the way he's been playing lately.

Kaman went 3-for-15 from the floor with eight points in a close loss to the Hornets on Monday night.

"Clearly when he's gone to the point that he's fried, you've got to take him out. You still have to run plays for him, work out his kinks with him," said Clippers interim coach Kim Hughes. "Get him some touches because he couldn't make any shots at the start of practice, but the second half of practice, he started making some shots.

"He's one of those guys who doesn't need criticism. He's bashing himself twice as hard as he should be and no one feels worse than he does."

During Tuesday's practice, Kaman was still brooding.

"I've had some bad games the last five games ? I'm not doing it on purpose, I'm really not," Kaman said.

He is still averaging 18.8 points and 9.1 rebounds this season, but he's putting up just 11 points per game over the last five contests.

"It's tough. My minutes are really inconsistent," Kaman said. "I'll start the game and they'll take me out with six, seven minutes to go. I'll go in for a little bit in the second quarter. I don't really feel like I can get into a rhythm. It's kind of tough ?the coaching change.

"I like Kim. We've had our differences the past few weeks about different issues. But ultimately he's a good guy and I like him. It's just been a little different."