Mark Kreidler of the Sacramento Bee weighs in on the topic of the week -- did Michael Jordan make a mistake by coming back?  Kreidler points out that there a vast number of positives he brought to the Wizards and basketball and very few negatives.

Some of Jordan's critics are now saying "I told you so" that a thirty-nine year old couldn't survive in the NBA and many are saying he's damaged the Wizards future.  Kreidler, himself, admits he had doubts about the Airogant One's return but he now concedes he was dead wrong:

"As for Jordan's legacy, maybe it really is dent-proof. Players after coaches after executives this week have showered with praise Jordan's effort, even as they acknowledge that they wondered if its pace and demands might eventually overtake him.

'That's especially true if you had told me he was going to play the number of minutes he's been playing," said Kings coach Rick Adelman. "I thought he would've played more like 32 minutes a game, but he was playing in the upper 30s in minutes and with a lot of pressure on his shoulders for that team to do well. With this team, he had to play for them to win.'

And so Jordan did play and, for as long as he did, the Wizards won. It didn't last nearly long enough, but then most of the great acts don't.

If Michael Jordan reminded a few people along the way of why they started watching basketball in the first place, there undoubtedly are worse epitaphs.

And if he made mild fools out of a bunch of us in the process, well, that's par for the course."

Worth reading, if only to see an expert with some humility.

Kings coach Rick Adelman surveyed the Western Conference and had this assessment: None of the competition is backing away.

After Tuesday's victory over Utah, the Kings coach knew the Jazz was the only one of the conference's top eight teams coming off a loss.

In fact, the Lakers, Trail Blazers, Mavericks and Timberwolves have been playing exceptionally well. But Adelman's point was simple: So what?

The Kings coach said his team's goal is the same one he's been preaching all season -- improve daily.

"That's the only situation we can control," Adelman said. "We have to use this game as a building block and try to win games and see where we are at the end of the season."

There's a new chapter to the saga of Jazz coach Jerry Sloan's battles with center Greg Ostertag.
     
Ostertag entered Utah's 107-81 loss at Sacramento on Tuesday night with four minutes and 45 seconds remaining in the opening quarter and the Jazz about to go down by seven points. Barely more than two minutes later, the Kings were up 16 and Sloan had to call a time-out because, he said, of Ostertag's play.
     
Sloan yelled at Ostertag as he sat on the bench, and Ostertag shouted back as the coach yanked the 7-foot-2 backup center from the Jazz lineup. Ostertag at first walked away from the Jazz huddle, then returned, saying, "It's my fault. . . . It's all my fault" loud enough for fans in the front row to hear. He sat all the rest of the first half and did not play again until garbage time late in the second.
     
"Same thing," Sloan said when asked what happened. "Greg got upset because I took him out; I got upset because he didn't seem to understand where he's supposed to go. You have to call a time-out to try to tell him sometimes."
     
It's not the first time the two have had a run-in.
     
Earlier this month, Ostertag was suspended one game because he bumped Sloan while angrily walking the sideline at Memphis. Ostertag, who refused comment after Tuesday's game, also was suspended for disciplinary reasons last season.

The Jazz commit a season-high 27 turnovers. They lose to Sacramento by 24 or more points for the third time this season. And Jerry Sloan has another public tiff with Greg Ostertag.

Even after a six-game winning run and five full days off, some things never change.
     
"Evidently, we must have been satisfied," Sloan said after the streak was snapped, "because we came out and didn't have a chance to even be in the ballgame."
     
The result was a 107-81 loss to the Kings on Tuesday night that left Utah right where it was when it started a now-ended, nine-game Winter Olympics-imposed banishment from the Delta Center: wondering, maybe even doubting, if it has what it takes to compete against the NBA's elite.
     
"Obviously we know who they are: They're a great team," Sloan said of Sacramento, which owns a league-best record of 41-15 and is now an amazing 29-2 at Arco Arena.
     
"I said it tonight before the game ? I said, 'If you can't get ready to play against these guys, who are probably gonna be world champions, the way they're playing. . . . That would be exciting,' " Sloan added. "But it didn't look like we had too many people excited about playing them out there. It looked like we were about half-scared and about half-afraid to be here."

Whizzzzzzzzz!

That's the written approximation of the sound of Kings, Indiana Pacers and NBA fans being jerked up and down on the TV yo-yo that is the league and NBC.

The time of the Kings' game Sunday against the Pacers at Arco Arena has been changed again. It now will be played at 3 p.m. and televised by NBC.

That was the scheduled starting time when the season began, but as the Washington Wizards began to play better, networks began to drop other games and add Michael Jordan's star power to their time slots.

With his usual dry sarcasm, Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan described what was similar in each of his team's three blowout losses to the Kings this season:

"The score," Sloan said. "I'd say the scores have been about identical."

Include Tuesday night's 107-81 yawner in an impressive trio of Kings' victories over their once-overwhelming nemesis: The Kings won at Arco on Jan. 24, 113-80, then repeated the feat in Salt Lake City two days later 114-90.

The Kings seemingly own the Jazz -- whom they face one last time April 5. The clearest reason is their tempo. But at least part of the equation has to be intensity.

It turns out that all the semi-sickly Kings needed to get better was a visit from the Utah Jazz.

That and the decision to play as hard as they could from start to finish allowed the Kings to post a 107-81 victory Tuesday night at Arco Arena.

The Kings halted a two-game losing streak and remained the only team not to have lost three in a row this season.

With his usual dry sarcasm, Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan described what was similar in each of his team's three blowout losses to the Kings this season:

"The score," Sloan said. "I'd say the scores have been about identical."

Include Tuesday night's 107-81 yawner in an impressive trio of Kings' victories over their once-overwhelming nemesis: The Kings won at Arco on Jan. 24, 113-80, then repeated the feat in Salt Lake City two days later 114-90.

The Kings seemingly own the Jazz -- whom they face one last time April 5. The clearest reason is their tempo. But at least part of the equation has to be intensity.

"They're a great team," Kings guard Bobby Jackson said of the Jazz. "They beat us so regularly for so many years. We just come out a little more focused against them. We need to do that against every team."

The Jazz was the cure for whatever had been ailing the Kings, losers of three of their previous four. Sacramento jumped to a 17-point lead within 10 minutes and never looked back.

Intensity was certainly on Sloan's mind as well after the game. The Jazz had won six in a row heading into Arco Arena -- all on the road.

"Evidently we must have been satisfied (with a 6-3 mark on a nine-game road trip thanks to the Winter Olympics being held in their hometown)," Sloan said.

It turns out that all the semi-sickly Kings needed to get better was a visit from the Utah Jazz.

That and the decision to play as hard as they could from start to finish allowed the Kings to post a 107-81 victory Tuesday night at Arco Arena.

The Kings halted a two-game losing streak and remained the only team not to have lost three in a row this season.

Utah had a six-game winning streak stopped. The Jazz was playing its ninth consecutive game away from Salt Lake City because of the Winter Olympics.

The difference in the Kings' effort and intensity was evident from the beginning, and the fact they never let up pleased coach Rick Adelman.

Sacramento (41-15) helped force 29 turnovers by Utah (31-25). That was a season high both for the Jazz and a Kings opponent.

"We defended well the whole game," Adelman said for the first time since his team defeated Boston on Feb. 6. "I was pleased with the intensity we showed. We really didn't let down. As the game progressed, we stayed with it."

-- Just like their post-Olympics hometown, things appear back to normal for the Jazz.
  Coach Jerry Sloan and Greg Ostertag had another public disagreement, Utah threw the basketball all over Arco Arena and the Jazz proved no match for Sacramento.
  Peja Stojakovic scored 19 points and Chris Webber added 16 as the Kings snapped their two-game losing streak with an lopsided 107-81 victory Tuesday.
  After a six-game winning streak and a five-day break, the Jazz (31-25) played the kind of basketball that had them hovering around .500 for most of the season.
  They were certainly no match for the Kings, who have beaten Utah three times since Jan. 24 by a combined 83 points. Against the top five teams in the Western Conference, the Jazz are 1-11.
  "We looked half-scared to be here," Sloan said.
  The Jazz committed 14 turnovers in the first half, which was punctuated by another on-the-bench battle between Sloan and Ostertag, his inconsistent center who got off to a rocky start Tuesday.
  When Ostertag entered the game midway through the opening quarter, the Jazz trailed 14-7. When Sloan yanked him only 2:09 later, Utah trailed 25-9. Ostertag's contribution: one turnover and one foul.