It seems laughable to suggest that the Bucks are fighting for a spot in the National Basketball Association playoffs.

But, here they are.

Sporting a 19-32 record following a 99-98 loss to the woeful New York Knicks, the Bucks are in last place in the Central Division but trail New Jersey by two games for the eight and final playoff spot in the atrocious Eastern Conference.

The Nets (21-29) are bad enough. The Washington Wizards, who hold sixth place in the conference standings, are just five games ahead of the Bucks.

This indicates how horrible the Eastern Conference is this season. By comparison, the two teams tied for the eighth spot in the Western Conference, Golden State and Houston, have 30-20 records and would qualify in the No. 4 slot in the East.

No matter the circumstances, the Bucks are in the mix. They are walking the fine line between postseason participation and another trip to the NBA Draft Lottery. In order to make the former a reality and avoid the latter, the Bucks need to find a way to get their best players on the court on a regular basis.

Michael Redd, Desmond Mason and Mo Williams all have missed significant time this season. The Bucks have played without one member of their regular starting five for much of the last two months.

"The toughest thing for us has been guys getting hurt and guys getting sick," says Andrew Bogut. "We haven't been in groove for about a month, missing at least one player every game for as long as I can remember. When you do that in the NBA, it hurts your chemistry and your cohesiveness."

On the night that Redd finally returned to the lineup, Williams sat out the game Saturday with what team officials called "flu-like symptoms." Injuries and illness are part of life in the NBA. For the Bucks, who have a slew of home games on the schedule, they are critical.

While the lack of front-line talent has been frustrating for Bogut, head coach Larry Krystkowiak thinks brighter days are around the corner.

"We'll get everybody back here soon, we'll get Mo back in the mix, have a full slate of guys and get back to the drawing board," Krystkowiak says.

The Bucks' defensive ineptitude has been discussed at great length. Even in the East, getting to the playoffs is a large charge for a team that allows a little more than 100 points per game (ninth-most in the NBA) while scoring just 94 (fourth-worst).

"Nothing's easy in this league and we got a long way to go to get to where we want to be," Bogut says. "We have a lot of areas to get better in so we need to work hard in practice ... and it's tough to adjust when every game you have a different starting five.

"You've got to get into a rhythm and you've got to get into a groove. That's the main point of our frustration at the moment."

Those problems, the coach believes, can be alleviated by the return of a full roster.

"We'll be able to get some practices and get things rolling again with a full group of guys," Krystkowiak says. "Hopefully the depth will come into play for us going down the stretch."

If the Bucks can maintain some sort of consistency in the lineup in the second half, they will be in good position for a playoff run.

Fourteen of Milwaukee's next 18 games will be played at the Bradley Center, where the Bucks own a respectable 13-9 record. No team has played more road games so far this season than Milwaukee (the Bucks and Orlando are tied with 29). They'll play just 12 on the road in the second half.

"We're thinking about it," Krystkowiak says. "A lot of focus here the last couple days. Right now, this one ... it doesn't seem like now's the time to talk about it with the wind that just got taken out of our sails with this ballgame. It's kind of hard to swallow at the moment. But we're still in the race, yes."

Shocking as it seems, the Bucks are in the race; for now, anyway.