Oh? how the once mighty have fallen.  The Milwaukee Bucks, who last season came within one game of the NBA Finals, have been at the top of the Eastern Conference standings for the majority of the season.  Now, with only five games left in the regular season, Milwaukee finds themselves in serious danger of missing the NBA playoffs.

The Bucks have been crippled with injuries at the business side of the season, which has led them to lose eleven of their last 14.  The team is now tied with the surging Toronto Raptors for the eighth place in the East, both teams making the playoffs had the season ended today, but the Indiana Pacers (ninth in East) are only two games back and despite some recent hiccups they are relatively healthy.

Milwaukee travels to Indianapolis on Friday to take on the Pacers, then on next Tuesday they host the Raptors, winners of their last nine games, setting the scene for an interesting conclusion.

?I never thought it would be that way,? said Bucks guard Ray Allen, who has a sore knee. ?We?ve gone all the way to the top, and we?ve come all the way back to the bottom. Whatever cockiness we had, or swagger we had, is gone. Our confidence to win games is gone.?

Meanwhile Indiana hosts the Raptors tomorrow, and Pacers coach Isiah Thomas is still laying the blame of his team?s recent collapse on youth.  A team who only weeks ago was looking at the fifth place in the East, the Pacers have tripped on the home straight and were forced to make way for the fast-finishing Raptors.  Toronto was able to draw blood on Sunday in Toronto when the two sides met, pushing the Raptors slightly ahead, but then the Pacers did themselves no favors by losing to the lottery-bound Cleveland Cavaliers.

"Sometimes, I don't know if we have enough people who want to be in this playoff race," said forward Jermaine O'Neal. ". . . We played a team (Cleveland) that's going home in four days, but if you watched that game, we were the ones who looked like we were going home."

The Pacers filled some needs with the mid-season trade with Chicago, adding the big man they sorely needed in Brad Miller, additional defense in Ron Artest, and scoring off the bench in Ron Mercer, yet they have faltered.  Is youth really to blame here?

"Youth -- no excuse," responded O?Neal. "You play 70-something games, you're not young anymore. It's about playing with urgency. We kept saying, 'Well, tomorrow, tomorrow.' Tomorrow is here. Today."

Tomorrow is certainly here, and with it is the moment of truth.  Which team will fall out of the Eastern Conference playoff race?  Will it be Milwaukee, Indiana or Toronto?  Injuries and youth aside, postseason or no postseason every game is a playoff game for these teams as of now.