Warriors' coach Dave Cowens has made it clear that he won't tolerate his players complaining about lack of playing time.  "Playing time isn't one of the things they get to vote on," coach Dave Cowens said. "I've said it before. You can wear that playing-time thing out. I care about me being happy and the owner being happy. You can have an issue about it every day."

Malik Rose contributed 14 points and 11 rebounds, helping spark the Spurs past the Warriors before 16,442 at the Alamodome.

Rose contributed four points, four rebounds, a block and a steal during a six-minute stretch in the second quarter that saw the Spurs outscore the Warriors 15-0. He also was one of three Spurs to finish with a double-double. Tim Duncan had 16 points and 12 rebounds, five assists and four of the Spurs' season-high 12 blocks, while David Robinson added 19 points and 12 boards.

The Golden State Warriors marched off the Oakland Coliseum floor May 6, 1994, victims of a first-round 3-0 sweep at the hands of the Phoenix Suns.

A downer ending, but the club had won 50 regular-season games under the coaching of Don Nelson and behind the offense of Latrell Sprewell, Chris Webber, Chris Mullin, Billy Owens and Avery Johnson.

No reason to panic, further victorious seasons were in store.

Instead:

Seven seasons later and the Warriors, staggered by one brutal blow after another, have yet to revisit the postseason.

DALLAS - Like the weather, the Mavericks made a very significant change Tuesday night.

Trailing by 21 points early in the second quarter, the Mavericks made some defensive changes, then pumped up their offense en route to letting the air out of the Golden State Warriors, 116-106, before 17,110 at American Airlines Center.

In winning their fourth consecutive game heading into Thursday's homestand-finale against Sacramento, the Mavericks received a career-high-tying 39 points from Michael Finley, and 33 more points from Dirk Nowitzki in blowing past the athletic Warriors. But it was the defensive job performed by Adrian Griffin that garnered the most praise from Mavericks coaches.

As Antawn Jamison threw the ball toward the hoop while being fouled, he couldn't see Jason Richardson creeping up behind him.
Jamison heard all about it, though. The crowd let him know.

Richardson, the Golden State Warriors' rookie guard, caught the ball as the whistle blew, made a half-twist and slammed home a two-handed reverse dunk.

Fans leaped out of their seats. The Warriors' bench erupted. Richardson got high-fives from his teammates ? all this for a shot that didn't even count in Golden State's 101-85 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Sunday night.

"I knew he did something, but I didn't know what," said Jamison, who fell to the floor while getting hit on the layup attempt. "I had to check the replays."

"Nasty. Nasty," Warriors center Erick Dampier added.

Richardson, the fifth overall pick in last summer's draft from Michigan State, has done something nasty almost every night since the season began.

He has moved into the revitalized Warriors' starting lineup because of his all-around game and improving defense, and his incredible athleticism and creative dunking have made him a must-see attraction in Oakland.

In a way, Richardson is a throwback to the days when dunking was considered a thriving art form. The 6-foot-6 shooting guard has a passion for the dunk rarely seen since the early days of his hero, Michael Jordan.

Forward Dirk Nowitzki, center Shawn Bradley and guard Greg Buckner all missed Monday's practice with various ailments. Nowitzki visited an ear, nose and throat specialist Monday to determine if his repeated colds and viruses are cause for concern.

Meanwhile, Bradley has a sprained left ankle, and Buckner has a sore left knee. Buckner already has missed six games this season because of a sprained right ankle.

Mavericks coach Don Nelson said he wasn't sure if Bradley or Buckner will play tonight, adding that Buckner might have to sit for a few games. As far as Nowitzki is concerned, Nelson has watched him play nearly the entire season with a mild sprained ankle, a cold, a virus or a sinus infection, but has often pulled him recently because of fatigue.

Troy Murphy has been one of the NBA's best rookies after being selected No. 14 by the Golden State Warriors in this year's draft. But just one month into his NBA career, the former Fighting Irish player has earned a reputation for being just that.

On Nov. 16, the Sonics' Gary Payton shoved Murphy as both players received technical fouls in a game at KeyArena. The near fracas was only the latest time an opposing player felt compelled to inflict harm on the 6-foot-11 power forward.

Earlier this season, Toronto's Jerome Williams slapped Murphy in the face during a scramble for the ball. Before that incident, Murphy was in two scraps with Portland's Antonio Davis.

Rookie or not, Murphy is fighting mad and can't take much more.

"Pretty soon, I'm going to hit somebody," said Murphy, who has also been elbowed by Toronto's Keon Clark, who drew a $7,500 fine. "It gets to a certain point where you have to do something. Five games into my career, I'm not ready to start a melee. But 12 games in, yeah, I'll be ready.

"They can elbow me all they want, but they better watch it. I'm Irish, and you know how that is."

Murphy isn't a dirty player, so it's anyone's guess why the penchant for drawing fights. Perhaps Murphy's resemblance to Gomer Pyle draws opponents to test him; or is it simply Murphy's success?

Neither Seattle SuperSonics point guard Shammond Williams nor Golden State Warriors power forward Marc Jackson are demanding a trade from their respective teams.

But both players said that if they were traded for one another, they certainly would not mind.

Both players are on teams they did not think they would be with when last season ended. Both players are unhappy with the contracts they signed in the off-season. And both players are less than pleased about their current roles with their teams.

Even better, it seems, both players could help the other team out.

When the Sonics' season ended in April, Williams thought the last place he would be is Seattle. He did not like - and still does not like - playing behind Gary Payton, and he thought he would get a sizable raise, perhaps a deal starting at $4.5 million, the mid-level salary cap exception.

As it turned out, the only team that really showed an interest in Williams was Toronto, and it could not offer him a big contract because the Raptors were up against the luxury tax.

Finally, the positives outweighed the negatives for the Bulls.

Ron Mercer's head cold and Eddie Robinson's injured big left toe left them with only 10 players Saturday night at Oakland Arena, but that fact didn't slow others.

Brad Miller turned in a dominant first half, scoring 17 of his team-high 28 points. Fred Hoiberg definitively found his shooting stroke, going 7-for-10 for a season-high 18 points. Marcus Fizer resembled a lottery pick, scoring eight points in eight first-half minutes and finishing with 10.

Even rookies Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry sneaked in decent first-half minutes.

And still they lost. Jason Richardson's career-high 23 points led Golden State to a 93-88 victory before a crowd of 13,076, sending the Bulls to their seventh straight loss and 22nd in a row on the road to Western Conference teams.

The Bulls trailed 86-80 when Danny Fortson drew his sixth foul by hammering Charles Oakley with 1 minute 41 seconds remaining. The two had tangled earlier, with Oakley drawing a technical foul, and this time Fortson drew the technical.

But after Hoiberg hit the technical free throw, Oakley merely split his free throws. Antawn Jamison then scored to give the Warriors a six-point lead.

Trenton Hassell's miss in heavy traffic turned the game into a free-throw contest for Golden State.