CLIPPERS 101, BUCKS 92 Taking a step down Lackluster effort far from enough News Milwaukee Bucks

Los Angeles - It was as if Milwaukee Bucks coach Scott Skiles could see it coming.

Before the game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night at the Staples Center, Skiles was reminded that the Clippers had records of 8-30 overall and 3-16 at home, had lost 12 straight and were missing several key players because of injuries.

"It's not an ideal spot (for the Bucks) to be in," said Skiles. "They're due. At some point they're going to win a game. They've still got some talented guys playing. We're coming off an emotional win. So it's another game where we'll learn more about our guys."

The worst fears were realized as the Clippers broke open a close game at the start of the fourth quarter and snapped their long skid with a 101-92 victory.

Richard Jefferson led the Bucks with 26 points and Michael Redd added 21. Six players scored in double figures for the Clippers, who shot 54.5%.

The Clippers lit up the Bucks early, making 13 of their first 16 shots (81.3%). They led by as many as seven and held a 32-30 lead after one quarter. Redd scored 11 points while Jefferson had 10. Both teams shot 65% for the quarter.

Rookie forward Joe Alexander scored eight straight Bucks points and the Bucks held a 42-38 lead midway through the second quarter. The Bucks led the rest of the way and clung to a 53-52 lead at halftime.

Neither team led by more than four points in the third quarter and the Clippers took a 77-76 lead into the fourth.

The Clippers scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter - a jumper by Ricky Davis, a three-pointer by Steve Novak, a free throw by Al Thornton and a layup by Mardy Collins - to take their biggest lead of the game to that point. The Clippers later extended to lead to 92-81 with 5:22 left after a three-pointer by Davis and a jumper by Novak. The Bucks got no closer than five after that.

The term "learning how to win" is one that has been bandied around quite a bit lately in relation to the Bucks and it applied once again Saturday.

They weren't pleased with how they played in a victory at Washington last week and they thought they should have defeated Miami at home. On Friday, the Bucks almost squandered a 17-point, fourth-quarter lead before holding off the Kings in the final minutes to win in Sacramento.

"We don't have the maturity yet to handle a big lead like that (in Sacramento)," said Skiles.

Not only did Saturday's game offer the Bucks a rare opportunity to string consecutive victories together on the road, but it's a game they could look at on paper and say they should win. The Clippers' last victory at Staples was Dec. 13 against Houston. They were without injured Chris Kaman, Baron Davis and Zach Randolph among others.

The deck was stacked in the Bucks' favor, but they do not always respond well in such games.

Bucks guard Tyronn Lue was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers 2001 team, so he knows a little bit about winning. According to Lue, there's something about the theory that sometimes a team does, in fact, have to learn how to win.

"We definitely have to buy into that because we have young guys on the team that have never won," he said. "So when you're in a situation like that. . . a lot of times I'll see when a team makes a run at us when we're winning and cut the lead to two or four and we're still up, we drop our heads and our body language is not what it should be.

"I think that comes from being up in a lot of games and teams come back and you don't beat them. But we have a good team and I think once we believe that we're a good team we'll be able to take that next step."