The bad news is that the Golden State Warriors have lost six straight games heading into tonight’s battle against a Clippers team with Championship aspirations.

The good news is that Los Angeles is holding Paul George out for rest; and before this six game losing streak, the Warriors had just rolled out a four game winning streak. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they are due, but somewhere in there is the team that exposed the fraudulent Houston Rockets on Christmas day.

Could this be a night that the dormant Warriors wins column finally sees an uptick?

In keeping with the spirit of the Golden State Warriors 2019-2020 season, there are some big injury questions on our team’s end of course.

GAME DETAILS

WHO: Golden State Warriors (9-30) at Los Angeles Clippers (26-12)

WHERE: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA

WHEN: Friday January 10, 2020; 7:30 pm PST

WATCH: NBC Sports Bay Area’

Blog Buddy: Clips Nation

Hope

The recent resurgence of our franchise is strongly associated with the We Believe slogan (well that, and the “Let’s Go Warriors - clapclapclap” chant) - but this year’s iteration of Golden State seems to hinge on a different sentiment entirely.

Hope.

The Warriors did what they could, but given the roster turnover and an unprecedented bad run of injuries this season has felt mostly as hopeless as cavalry charge against tanks.

[side note: Did you know that never happened? Fake news, as they say. Literal Nazi propaganda.]

Anyways, back to the hope. Dear readers, I present to you: Stephen Wardell Curry, shooter of basketball, working his craft in front of cameras for the first time in months:

Ok, so as a self-professed internet doctor, I’m thinking something like 3 or 4 weeks on Steph? Maybe double it for some combination of tanking and being generally conservative in regards to your franchise player’s health? The hand looks good, some of those catch-to-behind-the-back-dribble shots are definitely stressing his surgically repaired left wrist.

So go ahead and open a door in your heart and tuck that video away somewhere safe. Although Curry is approaching a return, the Warriors still have plenty to work on, both in the near and long term.

One exciting development is Alen Smailagic - a skinny glass of 19 year-old talent with an incredibly intriguing skill set that managed to pour in 10 points in just 11 minutes on Wednesday against the Milwaukee Bucks. He’s still adjusting the league, and hardly knows the team’s sets but his extra development time is exactly the sort of silver lining we get from a season like this.

No Paul George for the Clippers, but they should be fine

George, one half of the Clippers insane haul of top free agents over the offseason, will sit with a hamstring issue. This is the second of two meetings this season against the Warriors that he has missed. It was injured some time back, he’s played one game and done well so this seems to be added rest against a soft opponent:

George initially sustained the injury last Thursday against Detroit. He missed the Clippers’ next game against the Grizzlies, but suited up against the Knicks on Sunday when he scored 32 points in 26 minutes. Assuming he plays against Denver on Sunday, George will have had six days off to rest his hamstring.

Los Angeles hasn’t made as much of a regular season splash as their Arenamates, the Lakers have. But this is almost certainly a cautious slow build for a team that plans to push deep into the post season.

Both of their stars have missed significant action (10 games missed for Kawhi Leonard, 12 for George) and yet they still find themselves in good position for a strong seeding.

Prediction

I don’t feel great about this game, to be honest. Expect a ton of painful memories with Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams - only this time, there’s no Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, or Steph Curry to save us... oh and they have Kawhi Leonard now too.