Carlos Boozer

Center Greg Ostertag signed with the Sacramento Kings yesterday, leaving the Utah Jazz after nine seasons. The terms of Ostertag's deal weren't immediately available. He signed with Sacramento on the same day center Vlade Divac left the Kings to rejoin the Los Angeles Lakers. "I hope everyone knows that I'm not going to replace Vlade with scoring and passing," Ostertag said. "But I will be rebounding, blocking shots and taking up space in the middle. Hopefully I'll be able to help these guys reach their ultimate goal of winning a championship.

Dwight Howard scored 29 points and pulled down 18 rebounds to lead the Orlando Magic to a 99-94 road win over Chicago on Thursday night, ending the Bulls' winning streak at eight games. Chicago twice overcame double-digit deficits and led, 91-89, with 2 minutes, 56 seconds to play. Orlando responded with an 8-1 run started by Jameer Nelson's lob to Howard for a dunk. Carlos Boozer led Chicago with 26 points. The Bulls played without guards Richard Hamilton (right-shoulder bruise)

The 76ers will face another shorthanded opponent tonight when they play the Utah Jazz at Energy Solutions Arena. The game is the second in a five-game road swing for the Sixers. On Friday night in Denver, the Nuggets (20-11) were without their ailing leading scorer, Carmelo Anthony. After leading by as many as 17 points, the Sixers lost by 105-101. Tonight in Utah, the Jazz (18-14) will be without leading scorer Carlos Boozer, third-leading scorer Paul Millsap, and possibly Mehmet Okur, their No. 2 scorer.

Power forward Carlos Boozer and the Utah Jazz have agreed on a six-year, $68 million offer sheet, ESPN.com reported yesterday. The move was a crushing blow to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who made Boozer an unrestricted free agent with the belief that he would re-sign with them for their midlevel exception to the NBA's salary cap. The huge offer, coming after Boozer had drawn interest from half a dozen teams once he hit the free-agent market, indicates...

MINNEAPOLIS - Chris Paul missed last night's game at Minnesota with a sprained right ankle, and New Orleans coach Byron Scott said his star point guard would likely miss a couple more games. Jannero Pargo started in Paul's place against the Timberwolves and helped the surprising Hornets improve to 9-2 with a 100-82 road win. Pargo contributed 15 points and seven assists. Peja Stojakovic led the Hornets with 22 points, helping to overcome a double-double by Minnesota's Al Jefferson (20 points, 10 rebounds)

The Utah Jazz had seen enough of the Golden State Warriors' dominance at home. Carlos Boozer and the Jazz shoved and scraped to slow down the Warriors - and then Derek Fisher put a sweet finish on a victory that put Utah on the brink of the Western Conference finals. Boozer had 34 points and 12 rebounds last night as the Jazz handed the eighth-seeded Warriors their first home loss of the postseason, 115-101, to put Utah up 3-1 in their second-round playoff series. Fisher scored 14 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter for the surprising Jazz, who can clinch their first trip to the conference finals since 1998 with a victory at home in Game 5 tomorrow night.

Utah Jazz swingman Kyle Korver was more relieved than anything else. He did not seem to relish being one of the heroes against his former team. Korver scored 14 points in just 11 minutes, 23 seconds of action last night as the Jazz beat the 76ers, 110-107, at Energy Solutions Arena. He sealed the win by hitting 5 of 6 free throws in the final 26.1 seconds. "I'm glad it's over," an emotional Korver said in the locker room. "It wasn't an enjoyable game for me. I wanted to win, but those guys are my friends.

The first quality victory of the Mike D'Antoni era came the way the New York Knicks used to win games: with defense. Jamal Crawford scored 32 points, and the Knicks toughened up defensively in the second half to end the Utah Jazz' undefeated start with a 107-99 victory yesterday. Zach Randolph had 25 points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks (4-2), who moved two games over .500 for the first time since they were 16-14 on Jan. 1, 2005. Chris Duhon added 16 points, nine assists and five rebounds in a strong all-around game.

You had to think that no matter how large the Utah Jazz lead grew last night, it would shrink again. It had to: Utah was without all-everything point guard Deron Williams, entered the Wachovia Center with a losing record, and started an all-rookie backcourt. But it never shrank. It expanded. It went from a bucket or two - no big deal, plenty of time - to a dozen buckets. Last night, the 76ers were badly beaten by Utah, 112-90. The lead was 26 points during the fourth quarter; it dropped to 14 for one possession in the fourth before bruising forward Carlos Boozer, who finished with 24 points and 14 rebounds, hit back-to-back buckets for Utah.

Pardon Phil Jackson's lack of enthusiasm for how the Lakers played in the second half of yesterday's 113-100 win over the Utah Jazz. They piled up 62 points in the first half, then got outscored over the final 24 minutes. "It wasn't a coach's delight, that's for sure," Jackson said. But his players liked the outcome of their NBA playoff opener yesterday in Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant scored 24 points, Trevor Ariza added 21 and Pau Gasol 20 as the Lakers, the Western Conference's top seed, had their way against the eighth-seeded Jazz.

Dwight Howard scored 29 points and pulled down 18 rebounds to lead the Orlando Magic to a 99-94 road win over Chicago on Thursday night, ending the Bulls' winning streak at eight games. Chicago twice overcame double-digit deficits and led, 91-89, with 2 minutes, 56 seconds to play. Orlando responded with an 8-1 run started by Jameer Nelson's lob to Howard for a dunk. Carlos Boozer led Chicago with 26 points. The Bulls played without guards Richard Hamilton (right-shoulder bruise)

You had to think that no matter how large the Utah Jazz lead grew last night, it would shrink again. It had to: Utah was without all-everything point guard Deron Williams, entered the Wachovia Center with a losing record, and started an all-rookie backcourt. But it never shrank. It expanded. It went from a bucket or two - no big deal, plenty of time - to a dozen buckets. Last night, the 76ers were badly beaten by Utah, 112-90. The lead was 26 points during the fourth quarter; it dropped to 14 for one possession in the fourth before bruising forward Carlos Boozer, who finished with 24 points and 14 rebounds, hit back-to-back buckets for Utah.

THEIR CAPTAIN, All-Star point guard Deron Williams, had left the team earlier in the day for what was described as personal reasons. In his place was point guard Eric Maynor, the 10th overall pick in this year's draft. It was Maynor's first start, necessitated by the sprained left big toe of backup point guard Ronnie Price. Maynor's running mate in the backcourt last night was fellow rookie Wesley Matthews, who went undrafted out of Marquette. The Utah Jazz was hurt, shorthanded and in disarray as it limped into Philadelphia following a blowout loss in Boston on Wednesday night.

Allen Iverson's agent plans to meet with Los Angeles Clippers officials in Las Vegas to discuss a one-year deal for the mid-level exception of $5.8 million, ESPN.com reported. The agent, Cherry Hill's Leon Rose, was trying to set up a meeting between Iverson and the Clippers, who want to ask the former 76ers all-star how he feels about coming off the bench, the Web site reported. That issue became a sore subject for Iverson when he was with the Detroit Pistons last season. The former MVP and four-time scoring champion is an unrestricted free agent.

Pardon Phil Jackson's lack of enthusiasm for how the Lakers played in the second half of yesterday's 113-100 win over the Utah Jazz. They piled up 62 points in the first half, then got outscored over the final 24 minutes. "It wasn't a coach's delight, that's for sure," Jackson said. But his players liked the outcome of their NBA playoff opener yesterday in Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant scored 24 points, Trevor Ariza added 21 and Pau Gasol 20 as the Lakers, the Western Conference's top seed, had their way against the eighth-seeded Jazz.

The 76ers will face another shorthanded opponent tonight when they play the Utah Jazz at Energy Solutions Arena. The game is the second in a five-game road swing for the Sixers. On Friday night in Denver, the Nuggets (20-11) were without their ailing leading scorer, Carmelo Anthony. After leading by as many as 17 points, the Sixers lost by 105-101. Tonight in Utah, the Jazz (18-14) will be without leading scorer Carlos Boozer, third-leading scorer Paul Millsap, and possibly Mehmet Okur, their No. 2 scorer.

The first quality victory of the Mike D'Antoni era came the way the New York Knicks used to win games: with defense. Jamal Crawford scored 32 points, and the Knicks toughened up defensively in the second half to end the Utah Jazz' undefeated start with a 107-99 victory yesterday. Zach Randolph had 25 points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks (4-2), who moved two games over .500 for the first time since they were 16-14 on Jan. 1, 2005. Chris Duhon added 16 points, nine assists and five rebounds in a strong all-around game.

Utah Jazz swingman Kyle Korver was more relieved than anything else. He did not seem to relish being one of the heroes against his former team. Korver scored 14 points in just 11 minutes, 23 seconds of action last night as the Jazz beat the 76ers, 110-107, at Energy Solutions Arena. He sealed the win by hitting 5 of 6 free throws in the final 26.1 seconds. "I'm glad it's over," an emotional Korver said in the locker room. "It wasn't an enjoyable game for me. I wanted to win, but those guys are my friends.

MINNEAPOLIS - Chris Paul missed last night's game at Minnesota with a sprained right ankle, and New Orleans coach Byron Scott said his star point guard would likely miss a couple more games. Jannero Pargo started in Paul's place against the Timberwolves and helped the surprising Hornets improve to 9-2 with a 100-82 road win. Pargo contributed 15 points and seven assists. Peja Stojakovic led the Hornets with 22 points, helping to overcome a double-double by Minnesota's Al Jefferson (20 points, 10 rebounds)

Utah coach Jerry Sloan showed more emotion at halftime than he thought his team had in the first half. "I told them they got to learn to compete. I mean, we were shaking our head at each other," Sloan said after the Jazz lost, 108-100, yesterday in Game 1 of their Western Conference finals with the host San Antonio Spurs. "If one guy made a mistake, you know, it was somebody else's fault. " The Jazz have lost 17 straight games in San Antonio, going back to 1999. "[The Spurs]