Dooling Shows Some Passion

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Keyon Dooling wanted to play Wednesday. The game was essentially lost and Dooling wanted to at least take out some of his frustrations on the Detroit Pistons.

Coach Alvin Gentry heard Dooling loud and clear during a heated conversation between the two during a timeout with the Clippers trailing, 81-61, with 7:52 left. Gentry later said he had no problem with Dooling’s rant, saying he was pleased to see some passion from at least one of his players.

Dooling made the most of his chance, scoring seven of his eight points on three-for-six shooting in the final seven-plus minutes of the game.

“I really want to help the team because the team is really in distress right now,” Dooling said. “We’ve got to be better pros.”

Gentry couldn’t have agreed more. He particularly enjoyed seeing the Clipper second unit outscore the Pistons, 25-12, in the fourth quarter.

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Rookie Melvin Ely had 14 points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes of relief of starting center Sean Rooks.

“I thought Melvin played great,” Gentry said. “Melvin keeps earning more playing time all the time. I told him that he’s going make mistakes, but I’ll live with his mistakes. He’ll learn and we’ll go from there.”

-- Elliott Teaford