In case anybody forgot amid all the Michael Jordan hoopla, the Los Angeles Lakers rolled through the postseason last spring unlike any NBA team before them ever had.
Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and their supporting cast snatched away opponents' confidence and left them shaking their heads, sweeping the Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings and San Antonio Spurs before beating Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers in five games.

They finished an astonishing 15-1 in the postseason for their second straight NBA championship.

This season, they will try to become only the fifth team in NBA history to win three consecutive titles, and it's hard to find a convincing reason why they shouldn't do it again.

"We had a very competitive year last year. I know it didn't look like it in the playoffs, obviously, because we hit a stride," Coach Phil Jackson said. "I've set a goal of 60 wins. It's something I expect this team to do, it's something they fell short of last year, and we'll go from there and hopefully find that momentum to get a couple of winning streaks which we never did last year until the very end."

The Lakers haven't gotten a lot of attention during the preseason, with the basketball world turning its eyes toward the return of Jordan from a three-year retirement.

At 38, Jordan has stepped down from his role as Washington's president of basketball operations and will be wearing his familiar No. 23 ? in the unfamiliar Wizards colors of blue, black and gold.

At box offices around the country, tickets for Wizards games have been scooped up as quickly as tickets for Lakers games. Lots of folks want to see O'Neal and Bryant in person, but just as many people want to get another look at Jordan, considered by many to be the greatest player in the history of the game.

Just as eager to get a look at him are many of the league's younger players, including Ray Allen, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Paul Pierce and Michael Finley, who have emerged as stars during the three years Jordan was away.

"Nobody is going to have mercy on him. I don't care if he's 38 or 58," Detroit guard Jon Barry said. "He had his feast on us. Maybe if things don't work out, we can feast on him a little bit."

The first player to match up with Jordan face-to-face will be Latrell Sprewell of the New York Knicks, who play the Wizards on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in a nationally televised game.

The Wizards are scheduled to appear on NBC twice, although the network could choose to show them as many as 11 times. Turner Sports is scheduled to broadcast six Wizards games on cable and has the right to add an additional nine games.

Jordan has looked terrific at times during the preseason, scoring 41 points in a game against New Jersey and dropping in 18 in the first quarter alone in a game at Miami.

"Once I made the decision to come back, I was confident that I can play basketball like I'm capable of playing," Jordan said.

The return of Jordan comes at a good time for the league, which is in the process of negotiating a new TV deal to replace the four-year, $1.75 billion agreement with NBC and the $890 million deal with Turner.

Ratings have declined for three years, although the public had begun to warm up to players such as Iverson, Carter and Bryant while developing a curiosity about improved teams such as the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Clippers.

Now the focus will be redirected on Jordan, although it could fade if he can't turn the Wizards into a contender. They won only 19 games last season.

"We just can't ask Michael to carry us at age 38. He's just not capable of doing that anymore for stretches like he did when I was in Chicago and he was 23," Wizards coach Doug Collins said. "We would love to make the playoffs, but that's quite a burden to ask Michael to bear, for him to be the guy who just carries us to the playoffs."