J-Rich breaks his hand..

Richardson fractured his right hand midway through the second quarter and is out an estimated six-to-eight weeks, according to coach Don Nelson. The freak injury occurred when teammate Mickael Pietrus went up for an off-balance block on Corliss Williamson and Pietrus' leg kicked up into Richardson's hand.

Richardson immediately clutched at his shooting hand and came off the court grimacing. His hand was in a cast after the game and he was to be re-examined by team doctors as soon as possible.

"It's like that sometimes," Richardson said. "Can't do nothing about it. I'm just going to try and get back as fast as I can, and try to be supportive right now."

Not that anyone would blame the Warriors guard if he felt a little snakebitten. It's been a trying year for Richardson, who had been laboring after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on Aug. 22. He missed the entire preseason, then eight straight games earlier this month as his left knee flared up again.

Entering Saturday's game, Richardson was shooting a career-low 37 percent, and had hit just 18-of-64 attempts since returning from his last injury layoff. His scoring average was down to 13 points a game after leading the Warriors a year ago with 23.1.

So maybe Richardson's absence will at least allow his knee to heal.

"It could be a blessing in disguise," he said.

"We haven't seen the real Jason anyway -- there was some guy disguised as Jason," Nelson added. "It's a setback for us, but it's another thing we'll just have to deal with."

Golden State is already without guards Monta Ellis (right shoulder contusion) and Anthony Roberson (sprained big toe), leaving just Baron Davis and Keith McLeod as the available backcourt by the end of Saturday's game.