The NBA has retroactively given David Lee a flagrant 1 foul for hitting Dwight Howard in the face earlier this week.

The Los Angeles Lakers center said it was too little, too late.

"I don't really care," Howard said. "It's late now. There's nothing we can do about it."

After the Golden State Warriors beat the Lakers on Monday night, Howard pledged he'd get revenge against Lee. A few days after he received stitches in his lower lip from the blow, he backtracked a bit.

"I do want to clear it up," Howard said. "I'm not going to do anything stupid the next time we play [the Warriors] to jeopardize myself, to jeopardize the team or jeopardize his career. Even though I felt like the play was dirty, I'm not going to do anything to retaliate but go out there and play hard and do it the right way, which is winning the game and dominating, instead of doing something stupid which could cost me or our team the game."

Dwight Howard suffered a bruised lip and bloody mouth that required three stitches due to an elbow from David Lee on Monday. Howard also received a technical foul and a personal foul on the play.

"He got away with a shot," Howard said. "I will remember this game. I will remember that shot. He said he wasn't trying to do it. You can look at the play and see it for yourself. I will take care of it later."

Howard avoided retaliating in the second half of the game to avoid a second technical.

Stephen Curry sprained his right ankle in Saturday's win and put a collective scare into Golden State Warriors coaches and teammates, but he was confident this will not be an issue moving forward after X-rays on the ankle were negative.

"I'm fine," Curry said with his foot in a postgame ice bath. "Don't worry about my ankle. It's just another little episode. I'll get through it, like I usually do."

Mark Jackson admitted he was scared about Curry's status when the guard first went down.

"I wanted to fly (to Los Angeles) and go to church - immediately," Jackson said. "... He's having an incredible year. Night in and night out, he's the best player on the floor. He's playing with great confidence."

Andrew Bogut has posted 20 points, 21 rebounds and seven blocks over the past two games for the Golden State Warriors, and his teammates are much more confident about their chances in the playoffs as long as the big man stays healthy.

"If he plays like he has the last two games," forward Carl Landry said, "we're pretty tough."

The Warriors still must see whether Bogut can sustain this level of play -- and, most importantly, health -- against elevated competition.

"He really showed how good he can be when he has a live body and he's protecting the paint like we expect him to be," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said.

The Chicago Bulls officially signed Malcolm Thomas to a 10-day contract on Tuesday.

RealGM's Shams Charania first reported that Thomas would leave the Warriors for the Bulls to a sign a 10-day deal on Monday.

Thomas played with the Bulls in the Summer League.

After being blown out by the Golden State Warriors at home, Chandler Parsons took a shot toward the trash talking of rookie Draymond Green.

When asked if the Rockets have developed a rivalry with the Warriors, Parsons said: “That kid is irrelevant that was talking trash." By "that kid," Parsons meant Green.

The Warriors (38-30) and Rockets (36-31) are currently positioned sixth and seventh, respectively, in the Western Conference.

The Golden State Warriors have assigned Kent Bazemore and Malcolm Thomas to the Santa Cruz Warriors, Golden State’s NBA Development League affiliate.  

Bazemore (6-5, 201, Old Dominion) has appeared in 45 games for Golden State this season, averaging 1.8 points and 4.4 minutes. In his previous assignments this year, he averaged 23.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 34 minutes, leading Santa Cruz to victories in all four of his games. 

Thomas (6-9, 225, San Diego State) has appeared in two games for Golden State this season, totaling one point in nine minutes. On March 8, Thomas signed a 10-day contract with Golden State. He has played in 26 NBA D-League games, averaging 13.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 32.5 minutes.

David Lee's defense has always been a topic of derision, with some users on RealGM's forums calling him _avid Lee.

Lee's defense was also the subject of a paper at the Sloan conference on interior defense by Kirk Goldsberry that was called 'The Dwight Effect'.

Goldsberry showed tape of several particularly egregious defensive possessions by Lee, which drew laughs from the audience.

“At this point I could care less," said Lee when asked about the paper. "I’ve worked hard to improve my defense. I think I’m a much better defensive player today than I was a year ago and definitely to start my career. There’s a lot of different numbers to support a lot of different things. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say me putting up 20 and 10 doesn’t matter because ‘numbers don’t matter,’ but at the same time, ‘charts at MIT matter.’ You can’t have it both ways.”

The Toronto Raptors are expected to pursue Carl Landry this offseason if he opts out of his contract with the Golden State Warriors, according to a source.

The Raptors will seek a veteran power forward this summer.

Amir Johnson has had a breakout season for Toronto at the power forward position and are also looking for a resolution to the Andrea Bargnani situation.

When Sam Presti decided to explore a trade of James Harden, his first call was reportedly to the Golden State Warriors.

The Oklahoma City Thunder sought Klay Thompson and a pick for Harden.

The Warriors only would explore a trade for Harden if the Thunder were willing to take back Andris Biedrins or Richard Jefferson for 2013 expiring contracts due to their concerns over the luxury tax for 2014.

The Warriors would have luxury tax penalties had they kept those two players along with the first year of extensions to Harden, Stephen Curry and ongoing deals for Andrew Bogut and David Lee.

Presti then discussed a deal with the Washington Wizards for Bradley Beal but was rebuked.

The Warriors used their amnesty clause on Charlie Bell in order to slightly improve their offer sheet to DeAndre Jordan that was ultimately matched by the Clippers.

The Thunder traded Harden to the Houston Rockets.