Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

The 106-93 loss the Milwaukee Bucks suffered to the Washington Wizards Wednesday night is unacceptable. The Bucks simply cannot afford losses to dismal teams when they are fighting for a higher playoff seed.

Milwaukee is currently 32-31 after dropping two games in a row. They were only one game back in the loss column of the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, but losses to the Dallas Mavericks and Washington Wizards in consecutive nights shut that down quickly. The Bucks are now two games back from the fifth seed, which is comforting considering there are still 19 regular season games left to be played.

With that being said, Milwaukee must take care of business against inferior teams. The Wizards are 21-42 after the win, and are a team the Bucks should beat 10 out of 10 times.

Milwaukee left a gimme one inch shy of the hole. It was a slam dunk that the team cannot afford to lose, because there are several playoff contenders still left on the schedule that will be doing everything they can to ensure the Bucks do not get any higher than the eighth seed.

Zero production from the bench, with the exception of J.J. Redick’s 16 points, is what killed Milwaukee against Washington. The Bucks pride themselves on having one of the best second squads in the NBA, as this is how they feel they can beat better teams.

Milwaukee weakens the opposing starting lineup and does everything they can to keep the game within reach. They then send in Redick and Mike Dunleavy Jr. to knock down 3-pointers to pull away on the scoreboard. However, injuries in recent games have depleted the starting lineup, which in return makes the bench weaker.

The Bucks must shake the dust off and regroup after the two losses, because they have the Miami Heat coming to town on a season-high 20-game win streak.

Michael Terrill is a Senior Writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @MichaelTerrill, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.