[narek]

Teams: Milwaukee Bucks (19-32) vs. Los Angeles Clippers (16-32).

When: 7 tonight.

Where: Bradley Center.

Broadcasts: TV - FSN Wisconsin cable. Radio - AM-620.

About the Clippers: They will be closing out a seven-game trip on which they lost four of the previous six. They are coming off a 101-80 loss Saturday in Philadelphia. The injury-plagued Clippers have not won consecutive games since they opened the season with four straight victories. They are 7-17 on the road.

PLAYER TO WATCH
COREY MAGGETTE, Clippers

He led Los Angeles with 26 points in 41 minutes against Philadelphia. In the previous game, at Toronto, Maggette made all five of his three-point shots and matched his season high with 35 points. He is averaging a team-high 21.6 points and has scored 20 or more points in 26 games.

LINEUPS
PROBABLE CLIPPERS STARTERS

Player Ht. From
G-Sam Cassell 6-3 Florida State
G-Cuttino Mobley 6-4 Rhode Island
F-Al Thornton 6-8 Florida State
F-Corey Maggette 6-6 Duke
C-Chris Kaman 7-0 Cent. Mich.

Coach: Mike Dunleavy (fifth season, 168-208; 15th overall, 565-598).

Injury report: Elton Brand (left Achilles' tendon), Paul Davis (right knee) and Shawn Livingston (left knee) are out. Tim Thomas (back) is questionable.

PROBABLE BUCKS STARTERS

Player Ht. From
G-Mo Williams 6-1 Alabama
G-Michael Redd 6-6 Ohio State
F-Desmond Mason 6-5 Okla. State
F-Charlie Villanueva 6-11 Conn.
C-Andrew Bogut 7-0 Utah

Coach: Larry Krystkowiak (second season, 24-45).

Injury report: Ramon Sessions (left-hand fracture) is out. Williams (flu) is questionable.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=716550

[narek]

Same old, same old:

PLAYER OF THE GAME: The Clippers might have one of the steals of the last draft in 6-foot-8 forward Al Thornton from Florida State, who played an energized game and finished with a team-high 25 points. "Our rookie has been playing really well on the road trip and he came through for us in a big way," coach Mike Dunleavy said.

PLAY OF THE GAME: After a dunk by Desmond Mason with 1.9 seconds left in the first half, Clippers guard Brevin Knight in-bounded and fired a pass to midcourt that was knocked out of bounds by the Bucks with 1.3 seconds left. After a timeout, Corey Maggette in-bounded to Thornton, who hit a buzzer-beating, turnaround-jumper from in front of the Los Angeles bench to give the Clippers a 51-50 halftime lead.

STATISTICS SHEET: For the first time in his career, Michael Redd played the entire first quarter and did not take a shot. Redd had five assists and four rebounds in the first quarter, and made his only free throw, but did not attempt a field goal.

http://www.jsonline.com/index/index.aspx?id=32

[narek]

"We're down," said Krystkowiak, who saw his team's record fall to 19-33. "I'd be lying to say that we weren't down. There's no doubt about that but it's important now to have a professional approach. . . . We've been talking about together. It's really easy right now to start separating. And it's happening.

"It's happening and we need to put an end to it and we need to figure out which guys want to be a part of it, which guys are in, and we're going to go down swinging with guys that are going to play hard. Because at this point of the season, it's not about individuals. It's about us surviving. We've got a nucleus of guys in that room that are interested in doing that and some others I'm not so sure about."

It didn't take much for the Clippers to put away the Bucks on a night when they couldn't shoot straight in the fourth quarter.

Krystkowiak didn't specify which players he was displeased with but Bobby Simmons played only 5 minutes. Last week, Charlie Villanueva expressed concern about his role on the team, but he seems to be back on board after being given a starting role. Villanueva started but left the game for good with a right-ankle sprain with 8:50 left in the third quarter. His status is day-to-day.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it," Krystkowiak said. "We've got some agendas creeping in and good teams don't have that. There's a lot of sacrifices that people make (on good teams). At this point . . . because we're not winning, it's really easy to second-guess what we're doing as a coaching staff offensively and defensively. Everything is under the microscope."

What did the Bucks players think about the notion of individual agendas tearing apart the locker room?

"You know what?" Redd said. "We've got to all just focus on winning. That's the bottom line and there can't be any agendas at all. I hope there isn't but Coach knows better than I do. We have to rectify things and keep plugging away."

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=716872