Dooling Returns With a Flourish

With injured point guard Marko Jaric in Los Angeles, Keyon Dooling played his best game so far this season Wednesday.

Though it went for naught in a 91-78 loss to the Indiana Pacers, Dooling made seven of 12 shots and matched a career high by scoring 18 points in his return to the starting lineup after a one-game absence in favor of Jaric.

“I’ve been struggling with my jump shot ... especially from the three-point line, so I made a conscious effort to get inside the three-point line, like a college three,” the fourth-year point guard said. “That’s the range I’m most accurate at, so that’s what I’m going to concentrate on.”

With Jaric sidelined, Dooling is the club’s only true point guard.

Jaric, who suffered a partial tear of a muscle in his left foot while making his first start of the season Tuesday at Cleveland, was listed as day to day after being examined Thursday in Los Angeles by team orthopedist Tony Daly.

After being fitted for arch supports, Jaric will begin therapy while his teammates end a three-game trip Saturday at Minnesota. Daly said that Jaric could be back in the lineup next week.

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Celebrating 25 seasons in California, the Clippers will wear retro uniforms from the 1978-79 season, their first of six in San Diego, when they play the New Jersey Nets on Thanksgiving at Staples Center.

-- Jerry Crowe