Mar 6, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Milwaukee Bucks point guard Monta Ellis (11) dunks in the first half against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Blake Griffin pummeled the Bucks all night long en route to his third career triple-double, but in the end, it was letting Matt Barnes do work on them that ended Milwaukee’s winning streak.

Griffin dunked his way to 23 points to pair with 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Matt Barnes released his ten three-point attempts long before the Bucks’ defense could challenge the shots and made six of them.

Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings continued their roles from the now-ended winning streak. Ellis attacked the basket and made his shot more often than not. He finished with 22 points on 15 shots. He did turn the ball over five times without nabbing any steals though.

Jennings went into a pass-first mode before looking for his shot in a late, failed comeback bid. He tossed around 12 assists and scored 18 points primarily by taking the three-point shots that were there to be had. It’s a style that suits him well.

The Bucks tried to run with the Clippers in a brisk first half, and it pretty much only worked for Ellis.  (Ersan Ilyasova, in particular, looked particularly overmatched trying to keep up with Griffin and Jordan. He labored on defense for the game’s entirety.) Monta made 7-of-9 shots on his way to 18 points.  But Los Angeles had their way with Milwaukee offensively, throttling the Bucks in three key areas: fast break points (14), offensive rebounds (7), and three-point shots (8/16, including four by Matt Barnes).

The Bucks hung close thanks to hitting 7-of-15 three-pointers of their own, plus they strung together a 13-3 run late in the second quarter just when it looked like they would get blown out by LA again.

Gustavo Ayon made his Bucks debut when the game was long decided. He scored his first points on a reverse layup in the final minute.

Two video clips:

DeAndre Jordan starts out this play further from the basket than the other nine players, then he makes up ground quickly.

And Blake Griffin ended the game with this one.  Trite kudos to DeAndre Jordan for the fake “I can’t stand up anymore, my legs are weak” reaction. Hadn’t seen that one before.

Some tweets

Eddie Doucette has nicknamed Brandon Jennings the Compton Comet. “He can fly”.#MILvLAC

— Nick Monroe (@nmonroe) March 7, 2013

Aaron Rodgers sitting courtside for #Clippers vs #Bucks, right beside Clippers owner Donald Sterling instagr.am/p/WiuM1PuWMh/

— Madelyn Burke (@MadelynBurke) March 7, 2013

Mike Dunleavy is at the Clippers-Bucks game, sitting in front of Andy Roeser, watching his son play.

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) March 7, 2013

Love watching the bucks. Lob city was unreal tonight. Gotta be sportscenter #1 Crawford to griffin. Wow. @drewgooden best midrange in arena

— Aaron Rodgers (@AaronRodgers12) March 7, 2013

Jan 7, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Milwaukee Bucks power forward Drew Gooden (0) guards Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin (32) in the second half of the game at the Staples Center. Clippers won 92-86. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

With the win in Cleveland last night, the Bucks extended their winning streak to four games while reclaiming the Central Division lead (by virtue of a tiebreaker). To push it to five, they will need a win at home tonight against the red-hot Los Angeles Clippers (16-6), winners of eight consecutive games.

Larry Sanders

Prior to last night’s game against the Cavaliers, Larry Sanders had blocked 10.0% of opponent’s shots when on the court.  (He “only” blocked three shots last night while admitting that he was still recovering from an illness.)

The only players to ever block 10% or more of their opponent’s shots while playing 20+ minutes per game were Manute Bol (1986, 1989) and Alonzo Mourning (2006).

DeAndre Jordan is the best shot-blocker on the Clippers.  He has blocked 5.7% of the shots he’s seen this season.

Blake Griffin

Tonight will be only the second time that Blake Griffin has played in Milwaukee even though he was selected by the Clippers with the first overall pick in 2009.  He missed his season with a knee injury. Last year, the two teams only played one game is Los Angeles, a 92-86 Clippers’ win (during the Bucks’ fateful January West Coast trip).

Griffin made his one trip to Milwaukee on Valentine’s Day 2011.  He scored 19 points (on 7-19 FG) and grabbed 12 rebounds.  He also bloodied Ersan Ilyasova and the blow left Ersan with scary concussion-like symptoms that left a cloud over the rest of his season.

Some stats

The advanced stats love the Clippers more or less for one reason: they are really, REALLY good at making their shots.

In fact, the Clippers rank fifth in the NBA in effective field goal percentage (.520). Evidently, the 2012-13 version of the NBA is a shotmaker’s league — the top five ranked teams in that category are the Heat, Thunder, Spurs, Knicks and Clippers, i.e., the best five teams.

Tonight, the defensive stalwarts on the Bucks — Luc Mbah a Moute, Marquis Daniels, Ekpe Udoh, and Sanders — will be charged with the task of slowing them down.