Sacramento forward Peja Stojakovic was today added to the Western Conference All-Star team, nba.com is reporting.

Stojakovic, who will now make his second All-Star appearance, replaces injured teammate Chris Webber.  The replacement was selected by NBA commissioner David Stern.

The NBA came down hard Wednesday on Jerry Sloan, suspending the Jazz coach seven games for an incident involving referee Courtney Kirkland during Utah's Tuesday-night win at Sacramento. But the Jazz Thursday softened the blow for Sloan, saying their longtime coach would not be fined or have his pay withheld during the suspension period.

Sloan was punished for "confronting and making contact with a game official and failing to leave the court in a timely manner following his ejection," said Stu Jackson, the NBA's senior vice president for basketball operations.
     
On Thursday, Sloan was contrite but also suggested his actions were provoked by Kirkland...

Kings coach Rick Adelman has gone back to the drawing board. With a team decimated by injuries, he is changing his team?s style. Martin McNeal of the Sacramento Bee reports that Chris Webber?s sprained ankle, coupled with Scot Pollard?s broken hand will force the change.

"It's a real challenge," said Adelman, whose team has tied a season high with three consecutive losses. "I told the team, 'You have three things that are happening right now. First, we haven't played very well the last few games. We have more injuries, and we have a tough schedule. But what are you going to do about it? You have to go out and compete. You've got to play and try to win games until we get people back. That's the challenge. Guys have to step up."

Webber sprained his ankle Tuesday night against the Jazz. Doctors have said he will miss two to three weeks. Adelman pointed out that his return schedule won?t be known until he starts treatments and how much stiffness there is. "So until he starts walking around and starts doing things, I don't even think you can put a timetable on it."

Pollard broke his  when he clipped his finger on another player?s hand.  He won?t need surgery but is expected to miss five to six weeks. He attempted to play through the injury but was forced to sit when the team?s trainer noticed Pollard?s finger hanging to the side.

With Lawrence Funderburke on the injured list with Achilles Tendinitis, the Kings front court consists of only Vlade Divac, Keon Clark, Hedo Turkoglu and Peja Stojakovic.

Short handed and facing a tough "five games in seven nights" schedule, Adelman is worried.

"We're not playing that good now, and now we're short-handed, with more injuries, and you've got a really tough schedule. Cleveland is not coming into town. We're playing a lot tougher teams, and I'm just concerned that our psyche, if (we) lose a few games in a row and we're not used to it, how are we going to respond to that?"

"You saw what's happened to the Lakers. Once it goes the other direction in a long season, sometimes it's hard to get it back. That's why I'm challenging these guys. We've got to go win. There are no excuses right now."

Adelman and team president Geoff Petrie say they will explore the possibility of signing a big man  to help out during these trying times, but neither expects that to happen quickly.

Keon Clark in Toronto? While the financial matters that led to Clark?s departure and the comments he?s made about Raptors star Vince Carter may have rubbed Raptor fans the wrong way, Frank Zicarelli of the Toronto Sun writes that the Raptors are very much interested in bringing him back.

Clark never wanted to leave Toronto, but the team?s financial woes forced him to take a more lucrative offer from the Sacremento Kings. And while his comments questioning Vince Carter?s toughness could pose a problem, the Raptors don?t feel a rift between the two should prevent them from trying to reacquire the 6-11 forward.

In order for Toronto to get Clark, they will have to free up some salary. According to Zicarelli, Morris Peterson and Lindsey Hunter appear to be the most likely candidates to be dumped.

Peterson is eligible for a contract extension this summer, and based on the numbers that are floating around, the Raptors won?t be able to afford him. Hunter has not fit in with the Raptors this season and remains inactive with a sore back.

Clark would help strengthen the Raptors weak frontcourt and act as the perfect compliment to Antonio Davis up front. He has many supporters in the Toronto locker room and front office and he remains a fan favorite.

Doug Smith of the Toronto Star reports that with players coming back from injury, the Raptors bench will start getting crowded soon. In an attempt to adjust, GM Glen Grunwald has been busy working the phones looking for a trade.

Smith reports that sources close to the team said that Grunwald has approached Portland with a blockbuster offer for Rasheed Wallace, only to be turned away.

With trades in the NBA based on contracts more than talent, it's anyone's guess what Grunwald can accomplish before the trade deadline. On thing he's looking for is a young, aggressive centre, someone who can run the floor, block shots consistently and show an occasional offensive game.

Jerry Sloan exited quite early, ejected because of an altercation with a referee.  Chris Webber wasn't far behind, albeit for an entirely different reason: The All-Star forward sprained an ankle and missed most of the final three quarters.
     
With the Jazz's head coach and the Kings' top star both absent, then, the door was open for someone else to steal the show.
     
Leave it to two oldies but still goodies to step right through.
     
Thirty-nine-year-old Karl Malone finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds for his team-leading 12th double-double of the season, while 40-year-old John Stockton added 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting and nine assists. The Jazz handed Sacramento a 102-92 loss in front of a sellout crowd of 17,317 Tuesday night at Arco Arena. The victory snapped a three-game streak for the 26-18 Jazz, who were kicking off a stretch of four games in five nights, and was the third loss in a row for the 32-14 Kings.

It's nights like these that remind observers -- or at least should remind them -- that opportunities such as having the world champions on the ropes, as the Kings did last June while playing the Los Angeles Lakers, should be grasped and squeezed.
That's because obstacles can pop up out of nowhere.

Sacramento's fortunes -- as injury-affected as they have been all season -- became more precarious Tuesday night during a 102-92 loss to the Utah Jazz before a stunned sellout crowd of 17,317 at Arco Arena.

Karl Malone had 29 points, 10 rebounds and six assists just hours after being left off the All-Star team, and the Utah Jazz snapped a seven-game losing streak to Sacramento by beating the Kings 102-92 Tuesday night.

Utah coach Jerry Sloan pushed official Courtney Kirkland in the chest and was ejected in the first quarter. But Malone helped the Jazz recover from an early deficit to end a three-game losing streak.

The Kings, who lost leading scorer Chris Webber to an ankle injury, have dropped three straight for the second time this season.

It was not so much who was present in Arco Arena that was notable in the Jazz's 102-92 walloping of the Kings on Wednesday night.
   
The absences -- one in particular might be extended into the next game or two -- seemed to matter a lot more.
   
Like Chris Webber, Sacramento's MVP candidate, who sprained his left ankle in the second quarter and didn't play again.
   
Or Jerry Sloan, ejected in the first quarter after a one-handed shove to referee Courtney Kirkland, an infraction that could sideline the Jazz coach with a suspension once the league gets word of it.

The Kings have the NBA's third-best record and the Western Conference's second-best mark (32-13). They also have consecutive losses against two of the Eastern Conference's worst teams.

When they step onto the Arco Arena court tonight to face the always-tough Utah Jazz, the Kings will try to regroup and continue their success at home, where they are 18-2. Clearly, they are lacking something as they enter a tough stretch before the All-Star break.

With Portland (27-15) charging hard in the Pacific Division, the Kings play at Seattle on Thursday night and return home to meet the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night. Then comes three road games in four nights against Houston, Dallas and New Orleans.

The Jazz are sputtering, and so are the Sacramento Kings.

Since climbing 10 games above .500 for the first time early last week, the Jazz have lost three straight.

The Kings have lost two straight themselves -- to lowly Atlanta and Toronto -- and despite leading the NBA"s Pacific Division, they are 5-4 in their last nine games

If one team is going to get back on track when the two sides meet tonight in Sacramento, the big edge has to go to the Kings.