I just finished watching the Bucks beat the Celtics to sweep the season series and get back to a tie for seventh place in the Eastern Conference. At 30-31, they’re still a game under .500 and despite snapping a three-game losing streak are just 14-20 since the calendar turned to 2006. Early season dreams of a playoff run have been replaced by a desire to simply make the playoffs and wins against conference rivals like Boston are critical as the team enters the season’s final month.

The return of Joe Smith and Mo Williams should have provided Milwaukee with a huge boost but despite Smith’s exceptional production and Mo’s solid play the Bucks are spinning their wheels thanks in large part to the offensive ineptitude of Jamaal Magloire and TJ Ford. Terry Stotts has been slow to alter the team’s offensive philosophy to leverage their more potent offensive threats as complements to Michael Redd. Unless that changes, I find it increasingly unlikely that the Bucks will be able to upset the Heat or even the Nets in an opening round series.

There’s still time, though, and even at their worst this is a pretty fun team to watch.