Jefferson's 22 points pace Bucks' defeat of road-weary Clippers

MILWAUKEE -- After playing an NBA-high 18 road games, the Milwaukee Bucks took full advantage of the road-weary Los Angeles Clippers.

Richard Jefferson scored 22 points, and Luke Ridnour added 18 to help Milwaukee beat Los Angeles 119-85 on Saturday night.

"We certainly don't want to feel sorry for anybody else's schedule after what we've been through," Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles said after his team's 11th home game.

Playing its fourth road game in five nights, Los Angeles missed its first six shots while the Bucks made 11 of their first 14.

The Clippers only trailed 16-10 to start the game, but Milwaukee outscored Los Angeles 46-22 and led 62-32 at halftime.

"This is the biggest win we've had since I've been here," said Andrew Bogut, in his fourth season with the Bucks. "So, it's nice to be actually sitting [on the bench] in the fourth quarter for once."

Al Thornton scored 20 points for Los Angeles in its worst loss of the season.

"Everybody is tired," Thornton said. "Everybody in the league has back-to-back games. We need to find it deep down and be able to compete better than that."

Zach Randolph, the Clippers' leading scorer at 22.9 points, was held to four points. He missed his first seven shots and was scoreless until making a hook with 9:23 left in the third quarter.

Los Angeles had played two consecutive overtime games in three nights, last beating Indiana 117-109 on Friday night in double overtime.

"It definitely took a toll on us," Randolph said. "We have the most minutes in the league as starters so it has been tough."

Baron Davis, the team's second-leading scorer at 18.4 points, missed seven of nine shots and had 10 points. Steve Novak had nine of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.

Michael Redd had 14 points, while Michael ReddLuc Richard Mbah a Moute, Bogut and Dan Gadzuric had 12 apiece for Milwaukee, which has won four of five.

The game started a stretch where Milwaukee has seven of 10 at home.

Redd missed 14 games early in the season, and Jefferson said he thought the Bucks were starting to play better now that their leading scorer was back in the lineup.

"People don't understand, they talk about the road games, but we [also] were in China for the preseason," he said. "Now, we're starting to get healthy and things are starting to come around."

It was the 14th road game for Los Angeles, compared to 13 home games, but it was the Clippers' ninth road game in 11 December contests.

Milwaukee dominated from the opening tip, making 15 of its first 20 shots, using a 21-5 run to close the opening quarter for a 37-15 lead.

"We knew their starters played a lot of minutes [against Indiana]," Ridnour said. "We knew it would be an energy game and we came out with more energy than them, and jumped on them from the start."

It was Milwaukee's second consecutive blowout victory. The Bucks beat the New York Knicks 105-81 on Friday night.

Game notes
Los Angeles went 2-2 on its trip. ... Clippers rookie G Eric Gordon met with Bucks assistant Kelvin Sampson before the game, the first time they were together since leaving Indiana for the NBA. Gordon said their chat went well and they did not discuss the turmoil they faced at Indiana. ... Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said rookie G Mike Taylor likely will miss six weeks after fracturing his thumb Friday night against the Bulls.