MILWAUKEE BUCKS 27-25.What has changed: Milwaukee has performed remarkably well in close games, and like the Jacksonville Jaguars it's keeping them in the playoff hunt. They have won 16 games that were decided by 6 or less and the few close games that they have lost either featured an injury to Michael Redd or Mo Williams.They have only one player scoring above 15 PPG and that's Michael Redd. With Arenas in it is Redd who's the biggest All-Star left out in the East. Redd is averaging 24.

9 PPG and has led the Bucks throughout the year.Also stepping up has been Mo Williams. Williams has missed the past 14 games to an injury, but before that was averaging 14.7 off the bench. T.

J. Ford game back from missing all of last year to get 12.1 PPG and 6.1 assists. Jamal Magloire has been worth the Desmond Mason trade with 10.2 and more importantly 10.

1 rebounds.Andrew Bogut originally had Dwight Howard-like numbers at the start but has slid just a little. Still his 9 PPG and 7.6 rebounds are well appreciated. The man who was supposed to be backing him up, Joe Smith, has missed 37 games this year.

Gadzuric hasn't helped out as much as originally thought and has a chance to be traded before the All-Star break.Although the Bucks' record isn't as good since the last time we checked on them, many of their stats are more polished. The main one is PPG allowed; as of last December they were allowing 99.7 PPG but have now trimmed that to 97.3.

Bobby Simmons has nearly doubled his scoring average and isn't as quiet offensively.However the Bucks are no longer the best 3P-shooting team in the NBA (they're 7th). Milwaukee is an offensive team but has fallen considerably. For a while they were right at triple-digits but now are scoring only 95.6 a game. Aside from rebounds their opponents outplay Milwaukee in the majority of the statistics, which is a big reason why winning close games is keeping them in it.

Right now Milwaukee is the #6 seed in the East and has a legitimate chance to get to the second round if they're healthy. Right now they'd face New Jersey in the first round and if they move up a game they'd play Cleveland in the playoffs. While neither match-ups will give them home-court advantage it's a far easier alignment than facing Miami. The Bucks are just half a game up on Washington and they play the Heat if they fall to #7. As long as they don't do that, this team could surprise people come playoff time.

By: David Pincus