Kittles Returns From Sidelines

The Clippers welcomed back a slightly familiar face Saturday night when Kerry Kittles was activated after his second stint on the injured list.

Kittles, traded from the New Jersey Nets last summer, sat out 26 of the Clippers’ first 31 games, the last nine before Saturday because of sciatica caused by a bulging disk in his lower back. The 30-year-old shooting guard played 16 minutes against the Phoenix Suns, making one of four shots and scoring two points.

“I’m just hoping this is it,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said before the game, rapping his knuckles on his desk. “I hope he’s seen all the injured-list time he wants to see and from here on out he’s going to be able to play for us.”

Marko Jaric, sidelined since Dec. 19 because of a stress fracture in his right foot and not expected back until next month, replaced Kittles on the injured list.

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Chris Kaman, rounding into form after a season-opening stint on the injured list because of an ankle injury and last month’s emergency appendectomy, registered his first double-doubles of the season last week: 13 points and 12 rebounds against the Philadelphia 76ers, 13 and 10 against the Portland Trail Blazers.

“He just needs to be aggressive,” Dunleavy said of the second-year center. “He’s got the skill level to do it. It’s part confidence -- the confidence in doing it and then knowing that you kind of need to do it, which we’ve tried to reinforce for him, make him understand that he needs to be aggressive.”

Has his confidence grown?

Said Dunleavy: “Only he knows at this point.”

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Rookies Shaun Livingston, Lionel Chalmers and Quinton Ross are scheduled to help kick off the fifth season of the Junior Clippers youth basketball program today at Alpine Recreation Center, 817 Yale Street, Los Angeles.