Moments after leaving the arena in agony for a trip to the training room with just under a minute left Saturday night, Deron Williams claimed the injury he incurred was painful but not too serious.

The Jazz point guard strained his left oblique muscle while reaching at what he called a "kind of awkward angle" in an effort to swipe an inbounds pass with 52.8 seconds remaining. After going to the ground, Williams grabbed his rib cage, gingerly made his way to the bench and then took an early exit for treatment during the final seconds of the Jazz's 118-108 loss to Golden State.

"Yeah, I was in a little bit of pain. I think it just caught me off guard..." Williams said. "I should be all right."

Though the reeling Jazz (47-33) will be relieved by that small tidbit of positive news, they only wish the same thing could be said of the damage that was done to their playoff positioning hopes.

While Williams is now officially considered day-to-day, the slumping squad is just about officially considered a first-round foe (victim?) of the Los Angeles Lakers.

"It's tough the way things are going right now for us," Williams admitted.

Offensively, Williams had another brilliant game. In fact, he notched his 11th double-double in 12 games, dishing out 14 assists to go with his team-high 26 points.

Defensively, however, Williams and the Jazz are in a tailspin. His counterpart on Golden State, the unheralded C.J. Watson, dissected Williams and the Jazz's scattered defense for a career-high 38 points. The second-year Tennessee product hit 10 of 16 shots, drilled all 16 of his free throws and added nine assists. His play was a big reason why the Warriors shot 60 percent for much of Saturday's stunner and finished hitting 40 of 73 shots (54.8 percent).

Watson was one of two Warriors — of the seven healthy players on Golden State's roster — who had career outings against the Jazz, with backup Robert Kurz (21 points) being the other.

Eighty games into a season that began with high hopes and expectations, Williams admitted he was surprised that the Jazz aren't giving their all right now.

"You wouldn't think we'd have that problem," Williams said. "You'd think we'd be jelling right now, playing our best basketball going into the playoffs. That would be ideal. We're not in a good position right now."

Losing three in a row overall — and two tough ones consecutively at home against sub-.500 teams — will do that to you. It was also the Jazz's fourth loss of the season at home on the second night of a back-to-back situation.

"They had seven guys," Williams said. "It's a game we should've won."

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