OAKLAND — The sarcasm dripped out of Dwight Howard’s mouth hours after enough blood poured out that he needed three stitches on his lower lip.

“It’s the worst pain of my life,” Howard said.

The Lakers center hardly sounded in a good mood for plenty of reasons. The Lakers’ 109-103 loss Monday to the Golden State Warriors marked the team’s third consecutive loss. The Lakers (36-35) only have a one-game lead over the Utah Jazz (35-36) for the eighth playoff spot. Howard’s 11 points on 4 of 8 shooting only featured only two field-goal attempts in the second half.

But Howard remained largely upset over taking an elbow from Golden State Warriors forward David Lee in the second quarter, a sequence that prompted Howard both to foul him and draw a technical with 3:15 left in the second quarter after jawing with him.

“He got away with a shot,” Howard said. “I’ll remember this game.”

The Lakers next play the Warriors on April 12, setting up what could’ve been a contentious showdown between the two frontcourt players. Howard obviously had the rest of the game to retaliate, but he maintained he didn’t want to receive a second technical and an immediate ejection.

Despite talking with Lee before the second half started, Howard hardly sounded happy with his explanation.

“He said he wasn’t trying to do it,” Howard said. “You can look at the play and see for yourself. I’ll take care of it later.”

Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter. E-mail him at mark.medina@dailynews.com