ORLANDO, Fla. -- At this stage of his career, Jerry Stackhouse isn't trying to win a title anymore -- he missed a golden opportunity in 2006 with Dallas. He just wants to leave this game with his head high.

Stackhouse, 35, is one of only two guards from the 1995 NBA Draft who still is playing in the league. He was signed late last month by the Milwaukee Bucks after Michael Redd was lost for the season with a knee injury.

In eight games, he has averaged 18.3 minutes, 6.8 points and 2.1 assists, still trying to find his place with a new system but impressing coaches with his surprisingly good conditioning for someone who hadn't played in a year.

It might not be a coincidence that the Bucks are 5-3 since he joined, hoping now for their first playoff appearance in four years.

"I want to go out on my terms. That was my motivation. I still have something to offer. I still have something left in the tank,'' Stackhouse said Tuesday night after the Bucks played the Orlando Magic. "I can still provide a spark.''

ORLANDO, Fla. -- This wasn't exactly the Vince Carter of old, but it sure was better than the Vince Carter of late.

The Orlando Magic feel a little better now about the chances of defending their Eastern Conference title and staying within sight of the Cleveland Cavaliers during the second half of this season.

The worst slump of Carter's career has been pronounced over -- at least for now.

"I can still do everything I used to do,'' Carter said confidently after getting 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in a 99-82 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday. "It might be that January just wasn't my month.''

Derrick Rose will defend his championship in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge at All-Star weekend, but will have to beat two former champions and one of the league's top rookies to retain the title.

The field is set, and will feature Deron WIlliams, Steve Nash, and Brandon Jennings. Nash won it back in 2005, and WIlliams was the champ in 2008. But neither finished his final round with as much flair as Rose did a season ago.

It appears as though Jerry Stackhouse will be back in the NBA this season, although a little sooner and in a different situation than most people probably expected.

ESPN's Marc Stein is reporting that the Milwaukee Bucks are set to sign Stackhouse for the remainder of the season. The deal is scheduled to be completed on Monday, or possibly Tuesday due to the Martin Luther King holiday.

So, why the Bucks? Stein reports that they began looking at Stackhouse once Michael Redd was lost for the season with a knee injury. But we'll have to wait and see exactly which version of Stackhouse that Milwaukee has signed up for.

Stackhouse had recently been known as a somewhat reliable scorer off the bench for the Mavericks, having averaged between 10.7 and 13 points per game for them in the 2005-08 seasons. But last year, injuries limited him to just 10 games, and a scoring average in those appearances of just 4.2 per contest.

Stackhouse impressed in offseason workouts, and many expected a playoff team looking for a boost to add him at some point late in the season. If the playoffs started today, the Bucks would be on the outside looking in -- at 16-22, they're currently two games behind the Bulls for the eighth and final spot in the East. But by making this move, they obviously feel like they have enough talent to contend. And if Stackhouse has anything at all left in the tank, he might be just enough of an infusion to get the team over the hump and into the postseason.

(Or, if nothing else, Stackhouse can make our last memory of him on the basketball court something other than his being posterzed by John Wall this past summer.)

Saying that the Warriors were shorthanded for Friday night's game against the Bucks is, almost by definition, an understatement. Due to a variety of injuries, Golden State dressed just eight players to begin the game, and were technically down to just four in the contest's waning seconds.

Only an obscure passage of the NBA rulebook saved the Warriors from having to finish the game playing four against five.

Golden State quickly went from eight active players down to seven, when Anthony Morrow left the game with a knee injury just four minutes in. Chris Hunter fouled out in the third quarter (after playing only 11 minutes), and Andris Biedrins picked up his sixth personal with just under a minute to play in the game.

That left the Warriors with only the five players on the court available. So when Stephen Curry picked up his sixth foul with four seconds remaining, he was allowed to stay in the game, thanks to the NBA's Rule No. 3, which goes a little something like this:

PHOENIX -- Milwaukee Bucks' head coach Scott Skiles was taken to a local Phoenix hospital for precautionary purposes due to an irregular heartbeat, the team announced in a press release about 15 minutes before Monday's game.

Jim Boylan coached the team in Skiles' absence, and didn't find out he'd be in charge for the evening until shortly before the team took the floor.

"I knew Scott was having a problem this afternoon," Boylan said. "But it was pretty much a last minute thing. He met with the doctors here in Phoenix and they advised him to go to the hospital and get it taken care of. It was probably like five minutes before we were getting ready to walk out."

Skiles appeared to be fine while fulfilling his pregame media obligations about an hour before the news broke that he wouldn't be coaching the game. He answered questions about Michael Redd's injury, along with discussing where the Bucks would go from here without their injured star for the rest of the season, without appearing to labor.

Monday had become quite the ominous day for the Bucks franchise. Earlier they learned that Redd would be lost for the season with a torn ACL and MCL, the exact same injuries he suffered a season ago. But at least the night ended with some good news, as Skiles appears to be okay, and is expected to be back with the team right away.

"He's fine," Boylan said. "He's doing well, everything's good, so he'll be joining us later on."

PHOENIX -- Just a few hours before the Bucks arrived at US Airways Center for their game against the Suns on Monday, the team received word that Michael Redd would miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL and MCL. The injuries were suffered during Sunday night's game against the Lakers.

An understandably dejected Redd hobbled around the locker room on crutches, getting hugs and well-wishes from teammates as he prepared to leave the team and fly back to Milwaukee. But before he left, Redd met with the media to talk about the disappointment of sustaining the same injury as he did last year, and the frustration of having to go through the surgery and rehabilitation process all over again.

It's an unfortunate fact in the lives of athletes. Sometimes the body just ... goes. Michael Redd's body may unfortunately be gone for good.

Redd suffered both a torn ACL and MCL in the Bucks' loss to the Lakers on Sunday, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Monday. He will miss the rest of the season. This is the exact same injury that Redd suffered last season against the Kings, tearing both ligaments on January 24th, 2009, costing him the rest of that season.

It's bad news for Redd, bad news for the Bucks, and bad news for the league. On multiple levels.

Think of this as kind of a time capsule, for us to look back on in four months when the playoffs begin, in a year when everything settles, or in future decades when our descendants have cloned Tim Duncan and spliced him with Dane Cook to create the ultimate weapon of both rote efficiency and annoying doom.

Here's where every team in the Eastern Conference stands on January 1st, 2010.

Atlanta Hawks: On pace for their best season since 1997, including their best offensive season ever (Offensive rating of 112.9 according to Basketball Reference) and their best defensive squad since 2001. The Hawks are threatening to make the Eastern Conference a "Big Four" though back to back losses to the suddenly red-hot Cavs have tempered that somewhat. Josh Smith is putting forth a strong effort for most-improved player, defensive player of the year, and the All-Star game.

There were plenty of reasons that the Lakers found themselves in an overtime battle with the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday. But there was only one reason that they were able to secure the victory -- they had the game's best closer on their side.

With the Lakers trailing by six points with just under a minute and a half to play, Kobe Bryant went on a personal seven-nothing run to seal (or, if you're a Bucks fan, steal) the game for his team.

Of course, the final shot was especially dramatic, as Bryant was allowed to dribble to one of his favorite spots on the floor, and rise up over single coverage to drain a 15-footer as time expired.