Some Utah Jazz players watched the Lakers-Clippers game on a big-screen television inside the locker room while they prepared to face the Golden State Warriors. Others followed the contest on cellphones while riding on the late bus to the arena. Coach Tyrone Corbin just checked the final score when the Lakers lost.

”You could see the look on everybody’s face change,” Jazz guard Randy Foye said. ”Nobody said anything. It was just everybody had that look on their face, ‘You know what time it is. You know what we have to do.”’

While the Warriors had a chance to seal a playoff spot, Utah seized the opportunity for itself.

Mo Williams hit a huge 3-pointer in the final seconds to finish with 25 points, Al Jefferson added 19 points and 12 rebounds and the Jazz regained the Western Conference’s final playoff position over the Lakers by holding off the Warriors 97-90 on Sunday night for a monumental road win…

Williams’ 3-pointer with 13.4 seconds remaining put Utah ahead by six and spoiled Golden State’s shot to clinch a playoff berth in front of a 29th sellout crowd of 19,596. The Jazz moved a half-game ahead of the Lakers for the eighth seed. Utah also owns the tiebreaker after winning the season series 2-1 against the Lakers, who lost to the Clippers 109-95 earlier in the day…

Stephen Curry scored 17 of his 22 points in the first half and Klay Thompson had 20 points for the Warriors, who were trying to clinch a postseason spot for the first time since 2007 and just the second in 19 years…

David Lee, who has never been to the playoffs in his eight NBA seasons, added 21 points and 13 rebounds for Golden State, which was outplayed inside by Utah’s front line of Jefferson, Derrick Favors (12 points, 13 rebounds) and Paul Millsap (11 points, six rebounds) most of the way.

– Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press

The Golden State Warriors have signed guard Scott Machado (muh-CHAH-doe) to a 10-day contract, the team announced today. Machado joins the team from the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA Development League, marking the 33rd D-League to NBA “Call-Up” of the 2012-13 NBA season.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle blog, “Machado just got back from New York, where he had to bury his 61-year-old father. Luiz Machado, a livery cab driver, suffered a fatal heart attack while being arrested by for taking illegal fares by Taxi and Limousine Commission officers at Kennedy Airport on March 28. The New York Daily News reported that Luiz Machado was left in a gutter and without critical medical care for as long as 11 minutes, which triggered the Medical Examiner’s Office to rule the death a homicide. “He was a big hoops fan,” Scott Machado said, “so I know he’ll be watching.”

Machado, 22, was acquired by Santa Cruz via trade from Rio Grande Valley on March 8 and has appeared in 10 games for the Warriors’ D-League affiliate, averaging 6.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 15.0 minutes.  In 28 D-League games combined this year with Santa Cruz and Rio Grande Valley, Machado has averaged 8.9 points 2.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 24.0 minutes per contest.

After going undrafted out of Iona in the 2012 NBA Draft, Machado was signed as a free agent on September 7, 2012, by the Houston Rockets after playing with the Rockets Summer League squad in Las Vegas.  The 6’1” guard appeared in six NBA games with the Rockets, tallying eight points and six assists in 21 total minutes. He was waived by the Rockets on January 7.

Machado, who was named the 2012 MAAC Player of the Year and led the nation in assists (327) during his senior season at Iona, will wear uniform #1 for Golden State.  The Warriors roster now stands at 14 players.

The last two games, Warriors point guard Stephen Curry has played 43 and 46 minutes. His back up, Jarrett Jack, has played 33 and 35 minutes the last two games. Conversely, rookie reserves Draymond Green and Kent Bazemore totaled just over 8 minutes the last two games. Veteran Richard Jefferson hasn’t played at all.

Jackson has noticeably shortened his rotation. He’s primarily playing the five starters and Jack off the bench. He’s been mixing in forward Carl Landry and rookie center Festus Ezeli off the bench.

JACKSON: “It’s a combination of both shortening the rotation and reading (the situations). It doesn’t mean those guys aren’t going to play. … The good teams that I’ve been on, the good teams that I’ve watched, this time of year you shorten it.”

As the Warriors shift into playoff mode, Jackson is bracing his team for the intensity of the posteason. Possessions will matter more. The level of play will increase. That means less room for error, and less time for players deep on the bench.

– Reported by Marcus Thompson of the Contra Costa Times (Blog)

The Lakers center hardly sounded in a good mood for plenty of reasons. The Lakers’ 109-103 loss Monday to the Golden State Warriors marked the team’s third consecutive loss. The Lakers (36-35) only have a one-game lead over the Utah Jazz (35-36) for the eighth playoff spot. Howard’s 11 points on 4 of 8 shooting only featured only two field-goal attempts in the second half.

But Howard remained largely upset over taking an elbow from Golden State Warriors forward David Lee in the second quarter, a sequence that prompted Howard both to foul him and draw a technical with 3:15 left in the second quarter after jawing with him.

“He got away with a shot,” Howard said. “I’ll remember this game.”

– Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)

The San Antonio Spurs just keep winning, especially when they face the Golden State Warriors at home.

Tim Duncan had 25 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and four blocks, and San Antonio beat Golden State 104-93 on Wednesday night for its 29th straight home win against the Warriors.

Golden State has not won in San Antonio since Feb. 14, 1997, the season before Duncan was selected No. 1 overall by the Spurs.

”He’s a Hall of Fame player, an all-time great,” Warriors coach Marc Jackson said. ”He certainly had a big game tonight.”

Tiago Splitter added 17 points and Manu Ginobili had 16 points and seven assists for San Antonio (52-16), which has won three straight and seven of nine overall. Nando De Colo had 10 points.

The Spurs are right behind Miami (53-14) for the league’s best record.

Stephen Curry had 24 points for Golden State (39-31), which remains sixth in the West. Jarrett Jack had 14 points, and David Lee added 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Golden State closed to 92-88 when Curry went 1 for 2 at the line, but Duncan threw in a running hook and a 16-foot jumper to give San Antonio an eight-point lead with 2:37 remaining.

– Reported by the Associated Press

Embarrassed one game, handing out humiliation the next.

Such is life for the Chicago Bulls right now.

Luol Deng scored 23 points, Carlos Boozer had 21 points and nine rebounds, and the banged-up Bulls bounced back from their most lopsided loss of the season to whip the Golden State Warriors 113-95 on Friday night.

”I do know we have pride,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. ”We’ve taken a hit. We’ve lost some guys along the way. Our guys will battle. We know that we’re short-handed. But if we have the right intensity and we do it collectively, we have a chance. And we’ve shown it throughout the year.”

Maybe this week more than any other.

Two nights after a 121-79 shellacking at Sacramento that renewed calls for Derrick Rose’s return, the Bulls outscored the Warriors 38-17 in the third quarter en route to snapping a season-high, five-game road losing streak. They led by 36 points early in the fourth quarter before both sides cleared the benches.

Nate Robinson added 20 points and seven assists, while Joakim Noah finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds for Chicago, which had lost four of five overall. The Bulls outshot the Warriors 52 to 45 percent and won the rebounding battle 43-34, though the final box score hardly showed how much of a blowout the game really was.

– Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press

Just over an hour before the Warriors tipped off against Sacramento on Wednesday, a backroom off the Warriors locker room erupted into cheers. Moments later, several players exited looking like they’d just won something.

In a way, they had.

Utah, part of a group of six teams contending for the final three playoff spots in the Western Conference, just put the finishing touches on a collapse at Cleveland, which allowed Golden State to extend its lead over the Jazz to 2.5 games later in the night.

Being in contention for the postseason has turned the Warriors into fans of teams they’d usually have no interest in monitoring.

“It’s a little bit of a different mindset,” All-Star forward David Lee said. “We’re watching Utah play and we’re watching Houston play before our games start and the Lakers play. We’re all excited about the outcomes of those games and we’re rooting for teams in the Eastern Conference.”

– Reported by Kyle Bonagura of CSN Bay Area

David Lee had 29 points and 11 rebounds to back Andrew Bogut’s strong return, and the Golden State Warriors snapped a four-game losing streak by outlasting the Toronto Raptors 125-118 on Monday night.

Stephen Curry added 26 points and tied a season high with 12 assists, and Klay Thompson scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter to help the Warriors pull away with a 9-0 run late. Bogut had four points and eight rebounds in a season-high 30 minutes after missing the last six games because of a bad back.

Andrea Bargnani scored 26 points and tied a career high with five 3-pointers, and Amir Johnson added 23 points and 15 rebounds in Toronto’s fifth straight loss. Kyle Lowry finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, and Rudy Gay scored 26 points after missing the Raptors’ loss at Milwaukee on Saturday night with back spasms.

Golden State’s streaky shooting still proved to be too much. The Warriors outshot the Raptors 57 to 44 percent and made 23 of 28 free throws.

After a frustrating 1-4 road trip, Golden State began a stretch of seven straight and 16 of its last 22 at home. The Warriors improved to 19-7 this season at Oracle Arena, where the ever-loyal fan base has sold out 17 straight games and is begging for a playoff berth.

– Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press

Stephen Curry rose for another jumper, and by then even the Knicks probably figured it would go in.

Curry had hardly missed in a scintillating second half of the NBA’s most electric performance this season, the crowd cheering even before the ball left his hands.

This time, Raymond Felton jumped with him, making the play New York needed to finally withstand Curry.

Felton’s blocked shot led to J.R. Smith’s tiebreaking basket with 1:10 left, and the Knicks overcame Curry’s NBA season-high 54 points to beat the Golden State Warriors 109-105 on Wednesday night.

Curry was 18 of 28 from the field, finishing one shy of the NBA record with 11 3-pointers in 13 attempts, in a performance that had the crowd hanging on his every shot. But the Knicks and Felton finally stopped him with 1:28 to play and the score tied at 105…

Carmelo Anthony followed Smith’s basket with another one and the Knicks hung on to spoil former Knicks star and Warriors coach Mark Jackson’s homecoming.

Anthony finished with 35 points and Smith had 26…

Playing all 48 minutes, Curry finished with seven assists and six rebounds while passing his previous career best of 42 points, and Kevin Durant’s 52-point performance that had been the best in the NBA this season.

”I felt good all night. Obviously played the whole game, so was just trying to keep my legs underneath me on the offensive end, and you know, just stick to the game on the defensive end,” Curry said. ”Once I started seeing that 3-ball go down in transition, all sorts of spots on the floor, I knew it was going to be a good night.”

But he had little help without All-Star forward David Lee, who was suspended one game for his role in an altercation Tuesday night in Indiana.

Tyson Chandler had 16 points and a career-best 28 rebounds for the Knicks, who won their second straight after a season-high, four-game losing streak. Amare Stoudemire had 14 points and Anthony added eight assists on the day the Knicks learned they could be without reserve forward Rasheed Wallace for the rest of the season because he needs surgery to repair a broken bone in his left foot.

– Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

Jerry Colangelo doesn’t know who the coach will be and is still holding out hope it will be Mike Krzyzewski. But some of the players are coming together who could represent Team USA at the World Cup next year in Spain.

Colangelo, chairman of USA Basketball, said Tuesday by phone that Golden State Warriors forward David Lee, a former University of Florida star, approached him at All-Star Weekend earlier this month in Houston to indicate his desire to play for Team USA. And Colangelo is intrigued.

“He’s had a heck of a year,’’ Colangelo said. “He’s been healthy. He’s been with us before but he had injuries.’’

Lee was in Team USA’s training camp in the summer of 2010 in preparation for the last World Cup, which was then known as the World Championships. Lee was considered to have a good chance to make the team, which eventually won gold in Turkey. But he had to drop out due to a finger injury.

– Reported by Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida

If the Indiana Pacers learned anything from their 108-97 win over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, it’s exactly how close they are as a team.

Team unity and having each other’s back has been a theme for the Pacers, and they had a chance to show it when center Roy Hibbert got involved in a fourth-quarter scuffle.

Hibbert was ejected following the skirmish that began when he and David Lee exchanged shoves under the basket after a missed shot.

”There were two or three guys coming after (Hibbert),” Pacers forward David West said. ”We preach and talk about togetherness, so that’s part of what we’re going to do. We’re going to defend one another. They came after him too many times.”

West, who had 28 points and seven rebounds, also was called for a technical foul, along with the Warriors’ Lee, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, for the altercation.

No players left the bench…

George Hill had 23 points and seven assists, and Paul George had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Pacers (36-21), who have won five straight.

Curry scored a season-high 38 points and Thompson had 13 for the Warriors (33-24), who had a three-game winning streak snapped.

– Reported by Jim Johnson of the Associated Press

Jarrett Jack has been a rock-steady pro for eight years now, the kind of reliable performer contending teams crave.

Even though he is still coming off the bench for Golden State, he’s found himself in more of a starring role lately, and he showed the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday that he is equally comfortable as the leader of a playoff-caliber unit.

Jack had 23 points and eight assists to rally the Warriors to a 100-99 victory over the Timberwolves.

David Lee had 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Warriors, who trailed by 16 in the first quarter before Jack jumpstarted the offense as he has all season. Reserve Carl Landry added 19 points and nine rebounds for Golden State, which has won three in a row following a six-game losing streak…

Derrick Williams had 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who had a chance to win it in the final seconds. But Luke Ridnour’s mad dash down the court ended with a floater that was off the mark, and the Warriors escaped.

Nikola Pekovic had 21 points and eight rebounds, and Ricky Rubio had 16 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and six steals for Minnesota, which scored just 18 points in the fourth.

– Reported by Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press

Warriors center Andrew Bogut didn’t fly with the team from Oakland as it started its final extended road trip of the season Saturday because of a disc protrusion that is causing back spasms, according to team officials.

The 7-foot, 260-pounder played only 12 of the team’s first 54 games because of left ankle surgery and missed Friday’s overtime win against NBA-leading San Antonio after his back started acting up. He missed 43 games with a stress fracture in his lower back in 2008-09, a game in 2009-10 with a mid-back strain and five games in 2010-11 with a sore back.

The Warriors say there is no real timetable for Bogut’s return, but they’re holding out hope that he can join the team at some point during their five-game trip.

– Reported by Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle (Blog)

Golden State Warriors forward Carl Landry presented $10,000 worth of donations in boxing, fitness and recreation equipment Thursday to the East Oakland Boxing Association, which was burglarized on several occasions last year.

Landry helped distribute equipment provided by Good Sports, including exercise benches, boxing gloves, protective head and groin gear and chin-up bars.

The East Oakland Boxing Association is a nonprofit that has served Oakland residents ages 5 to 20 since 1987. It provides free after-school and summer programs that include physical activities like boxing along with mentoring and tutoring for academics, art, gardening and leadership development.

Good Sports is a Massachusetts-based national nonprofit dedicated to donating athletic equipment to schools and programs like EOBA.

– Reported by Serena Valdez of the Oakland Tribune

Jarrett Jack had 30 points and 10 rebounds, David Lee added 25 points and 22 boards, and the Golden State Warriors rallied past the San Antonio Spurs 107-101 in overtime Friday night to snap a 16-game losing streak in the series.

Stephen Curry finished with 18 points and six assists to carry the short-sleeve-wearing Warriors from 13 points down in the fourth quarter. Golden State, also playing without center Andrew Bogut hadn’t won against San Antonio since another overtime game at home—all the way back on Jan. 7, 2008.

Danny Green scored 20 points and Tim Duncan had 19 points and 18 rebounds for the NBA-leading Spurs, who had won five straight and 16 of 17 overall. San Antonio fell to 6-2 on its rodeo trip, which ends Sunday at Phoenix.

The Spurs seemed to take control between the third and fourth quarters, breaking away from a tie game with 13 straight points behind Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker Both finished with 18 points, and both disappeared late…

Spurs swingman Stephen Jackson dressed but did not play for undisclosed reasons. He played against the Clippers a night earlier, his first game back since his wife had a miscarriage. Jackson had left the team in Chicago on Feb. 11. … The Warriors are also planning to wear the sleeved jerseys for home games against Houston on March 8 and Chicago on March 15. … The Spurs have won 28 in a row against the Warriors in San Antonio.

– Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press

The Golden State Warriors have traded forward/center Jeremy Tyler and cash considerations to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for future draft considerations, it was announced today.

Tyler, 21, appeared in 20 games with the Warriors this season, averaging 1.1 points and 0.9 rebounds in 3.2 minutes (25 DNP-CDs, nine games on the inactive list). The 6’11” forward/center also spent various stints this season with the Warriors’ D-League affiliate in Santa Cruz, where he averaged 15.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in 30.0 minutes in five outings.

Originally acquired by the Warriors on June 23, 2011, in a draft-night trade with the Charlotte Bobcats, Tyler appeared in 42 games (23 starts) during his rookie campaign last season, averaging 4.9 points and 3.3 rebounds in 13.5 minutes. Tyler was selected by the Bobcats in the second round (39th overall) of the 2011 NBA Draft and boasts career averages of 3.7 points and 2.5 rebounds in 62 games with Golden State.

With his team stuck in a season-high, six-game losing streak, Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson called facing the Phoenix Suns ”the biggest game of the season for us” just before tipoff against the Western Conference’s worst team.

Apparently his players got the message.

Klay Thompson had 28 points and eight rebounds, David Lee finished with 19 points and 11 boards and the Warriors held on to beat the Suns 108-98 on Wednesday night to end their longest slide of the season.

”This is a game we should have won and we did win,” Jackson said. ”And I like the fashion in which we did it.”

Jarrett Jack added 21 points off the bench and Stephen Curry scored 20, with both making some key shots late to secure Golden State’s first victory in almost three weeks. The Warriors hadn’t won since routing Phoenix 113-93 on Feb. 2, and some offered an even simpler solution to the problem…

Goran Dragic had 20 points and 10 assists and Jermaine O’Neal added 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Suns, who have lost five straight to Golden State, including all three meetings this season. Phoenix went down by 10 points in the first quarter and played from behind the rest of the way…

In another moment worth savoring for the Warriors, Andrew Bogut took his latest step forward. The 7-foot center had 11 rebounds, seven points and three blocks in a season-high 29 minutes while playing in back-to-back games for the first time since his comeback from left ankle surgery…

Earlier Wednesday, the Suns sent a future second-round draft pick to Houston in exchange for F Marcus Morris, who will join his twin older brother, Markieff, down in the desert, according to a person familiar with the decision who spoke on condition of anonymity because the trade hadn’t been finalized.

– Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press

James Harden sat in a chair in the visiting locker room with his feet in a bucket of ice and his knees wrapped in bandages when somebody plopped a laptop on his thighs to watch the replay of his scary fall.

The bearded All-Star guard played through the pain in his right ankle and his already nagging left knee to finish with 27 points and seven rebounds, stealing the spotlight from backcourt teammate Jeremy Lin in the Houston Rockets’ 116-107 victory over the slumping Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night.

”Very tough. I can barely walk. Still limping,” Harden said. ”I kind of felt the momentum going our way in the third quarter … so I didn’t want to shut it down.”

He didn’t.

And neither did the rest of the Rockets.

Chandler Parsons had 21 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, and Lin added 14 points and 10 assists to help Houston past his former team for the second time in eight days.

A week after the Rockets tied the NBA record with 23 made 3-pointers in a testy 140-109 rout of the Warriors, Harden took the Bay Area rematch off script…

Stephen Curry had 27 points and six assists and Jarrett Jack scored 22 points off the bench after missing the past three games with a right shoulder injury for the Warriors, who head into the All-Star break on a season-high five-game losing streak. The first four losses had come on the road.

”We’re not there yet. We’re not where we think we are,” said Warriors center Andrew Bogut, who had six points and 12 rebounds. ”I think we thought we were maybe a little better than we were.”

– Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press

Just because the Golden State Warriors played and lost to the Memphis Grizzlies, 99-93, on Friday night, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle doesn’t believe that gives his team a distinct advantage when they face the Warriors tonight at 7:30 at American Airlines Center.

“They’re very, very good and they always bring it,” Carlisle told three reporters after this morning’s shoot around. “The other thing about them statistically, a lot of teams have big dropoffs on (the second game of) back-to-backs.

“These guys actually have better stats in a lot of areas on back-to-backs, which shows what great condition they’re in and how tough-minded they are.”

– Reported by Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Blog)

A fog-delayed arrival in Oklahoma City made Golden State’s task tough enough.

Then the Warriors made the mistake of getting on Kevin Martin’s bad side.

Kevin Durant scored 25 points and Martin roared to life with 10 points during a fourth-quarter run that put away the Thunder’s 119-98 win on Wednesday night.

Martin hit a pair of 3-pointers, a runner and slammed home a two-handed dunk during a 16-4 fourth-quarter spurt that pushed the lead to 106-83 and coaxed coach Scott Brooks into emptying his bench instead of going back to All-Stars Russell Westbrook and Durant down the stretch. Warriors coach Mark Jackson soon followed suit.

”Coach Jackson should talk to a couple of his bench players and make sure they get wet behind the ears before they come barking at a couple of our players,” said Martin, who went 4 for 5 in the final period and ended up with 21 points.

Playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Warriors didn’t get settled in Oklahoma City until almost daybreak and it showed as they fell behind by 20 early…

Harrison Barnes and Klay Thompson had 19 points apiece for the Warriors. Golden State played without Andrew Bogut, who is still easing his way back from a left ankle injury, and Jarrett Jack was sidelined by a right shoulder contusion.

– Reported by Jeff Latzke of the Associated Press