Ostertag says dispute with Sloan is resolved

Greg Ostertag does something Jerry Sloan does not like. Sloan pulls Ostertag out of a game. Ostertag gets upset. Ostertag becomes demonstrative and expresses his feelings to Sloan in heated fashion. Sloan reprimands Ostertag, making him sit out a game. Ostertag repents, promising it won't happen again.

So go the days of our Jazz.

Or at least so went the last few days for the Jazz, who had starting center Ostertag back at practice Saturday, one day after he was not permitted to play in Friday night's Delta Center win over Seattle.

Ostertag, while still passionate about the issue, said Saturday he accepted the reprimand, which stemmed mostly from a fiery discussion with Sloan after the Jazz coach pulled him perhaps prematurely in the opening quarter of a Wednesday win over Houston.

"I was fine with it," said Ostertag, who was neither fined nor docked any of his $8.666 million annual salary. "We talked about it, I agreed, and it was over.

"You guys know me and Jerry. We tend to butt heads once in a while. That's what it comes to," added Ostertag, who now has been so-punished three times since January of 2001. "It comes down to two hard-headed guys, and I'm gonna usually get the short end of the deal, just because he's the coach. You know, I understand. That's the way it goes. (But) sometimes you've just got to say what you want to say, and get it over with."

Sloan succinctly addressed the matter Friday night, declaring it "all behind us."

Ostertag, though, was not scant with what he had to say Saturday. He said he gets particularly upset when he sometimes does not return to a game after picking up a fourth foul during second-half play.

"But, it's his (Sloan's) decision in the end, and if the team's doing well, you know, so be it. We get the win, that's the ultimate goal right there, whether I'm out there or not," Ostertag said. "But, yeah, I want to be on the floor in crunch-time.

"I want to be the one that steps up and makes the free throws . . . or gets a big bucket. I want to be on the court, no matter what."

Playing time, though, apparently was not the central topic of discussion when the two talked Friday.

Rather, it appears to be the manner in which Ostertag handled himself Wednesday, including a towel toss into the Delta Center stands after he was pulled in favor of rookie backup Curtis Borchardt, and a subsequent postgame debate with Sloan in the coach's office.

"We got worked out what needed to be worked out," Ostertag said, "and he said I was suspended, (and) I said, 'All right.'

"It was just what I did wrong, and the consequences for it," he added. "I'll try not to do it again."

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