And so the Not Quite There tour continues. First came Friday night's game in Sacramento, where the Warriors stayed close and faltered late. Then came Saturday night's tantalizing three-point home loss to Kevin Garnett and Minnesota.

Finally, in a Martin Luther King Jr. matinee yesterday at the Arena in Oakland, the Warriors succumbed to a 38-year-old, jump-shooting power forward. Karl Malone might not stir knee-shaking fear in opponents, as he once did, but he still can play this game.

Malone scored 37 points to lead Utah to a 101-99 victory before a crowd of 17,237. The Warriors tumbled to their 10th loss in 11 games in a season rapidly acquiring that familiar, when-is-it-over feel.

Antawn Jamison's 25 points led Golden State, which made just enough mistakes down the stretch to fall once again. That, and the Warriors never figured out how to handle Malone, who often strayed outside to hit high-arcing, impossible-to-defend jumpers.