SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks have searched for an identity on their journey through this lockout-shortened season. There was the high-powered power play that helped them get off to a record-setting start. Then came an offensively challenged seven-week stretch that jeopardized their playoff chances, followed by a strong closing stretch that has the team brimming with confidence heading into the postseason. Read More

When Jason Collins contemplated whether to come out as the first openly gay active member of a major U.S. professional sports league, the first family member he confided in was his aunt, a San Francisco Superior Court judge. Judge Teri Jackson talked this afternoon about her nephew Collins, a Stanford University graduate and 12-year veteran in the NBA who wrote a first-person account released earlier today by Sports Illustrated about his decision to come out. Read More

OAKLAND — Are the Warriors actually a better team without their first All-Star since 1997 on the floor? The team is 3-0 since David Lee tore his right hip flexor and the question is being asked on sports radio, in the press room and over cocktails throughout the Bay Area. Read More

OAKLAND — Stephen Curry told television reporters before Sunday’s playoff game against the Denver Nuggets that the ankle he twisted in Game 2 of the series didn’t feel good at all. By the end of the third quarter of the Warriors’ 115-101 win, it must have been difficult for anyone watching to believe him. After attempting only three shots in the first half, the young guard scored 22 of his 31 points in the third quarter, powering a Warriors rally that quieted the Nuggets and helped give Golden State a 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference first-round series. Read More