Asking DNHQ: How do you feel about Golden State's 20-19 record?

This hasn't been the scorching start we've seen from them in years past, but how important will that be in the long run?

Hey gang, how’s the New Year treating you so far? It’s been a trip for me personally: sick as heck from whatever flu is going around, power outages in my home from the sweeping Bay Area storms.

There was one night I used the last of my battery power on my phone to read DNHQ comments, furiously screenshotting receipts until the screen went dark, leaving me barking out jagged coughs with no electricity.

Anthony Slater @anthonyVslater

Klay Thompson will not be driving his boat back home tonight through the cyclone bomb weather system hitting the Bay Area: “I could, but it’s not ideal. Have you seen The Perfect Storm? It doesn’t end well.”

Thankfully power has been restored and my health is on the upswing, and I’m hoping the same for our Golden State Warriors.

Warriors PR @WarriorsPR

Warriors injury updates:

They currently have a winning record at 20-19. Good enough for 9th in the Western Conference, only 5.5 games back from the #1 seed. They’re also only a game out of the fifth spot, which lets you know how mediocre scrappy the rest of the West is right now.

Kerry Keating @kerrykeating3

Don’t think for a second that @StephenCurry30’s influence on a previously dead bench (as far back as 2 weeks ago, before the injury, there was no energy on the sideline) hasn’t made a difference. Yea, he’s giving advice, but the joy he’s exhibiting? That is authentic leadership.

For as much ink has been spilled about the failures of the reigning, defending, undisputed, heavyweight champions to capture the hot starts of seasons as past, how much does it really matter? Are we measuring the Dubs against the elite standards they’ve set for themselves over their dynasty, or do we compare what they’re going through right now with the current struggles of their rivals?

Joey Linn @joeylinn_

The Clippers are now 6-14 against teams .500 or above this season.

And hey, here’s a Portland Trail Blazers fanatic tweeting through the pain of the shorthanded Warriors giving them a tough-to-swallow defeat.

Cody Krause @SeeKayyyyyy

This for me is the most frustrating loss of the season. I think it's due to it being the Warriors who I hate with a fiery passion, and just...god. Watching those last five minutes were so bad man I can't even explain it. Watching it and just knowing what is gonna happen...ugh

Another note: the Warriors have a road record of 3-16, which is COMPLETELY ABYSMAL. But did you know no other team in the West has a winning road record right now? Interesting!

Janie McCauley @JanieMcCAP

"I think we're much better than our record reflects and we're not even whole yet." -- Klay Thompson

As long as the Dubs get their health right, I expect them to be extremely dangerous come postseason.

I think often about some excerpts from an SF Gate from November entitled “It’s time to panic about the Warriors”:

Coming from a team of this pedigree, this is an entirely appropriate time to panic.

We’ve already spilled a lot of ink about Klay Thompson’s troubles, but…it’s not really getting better. It’s sad. The guy is a Bay Area legend and I can’t wait to make a pilgrimage to his statue, but he has not been good. This might just be something we have to admit and accept: the Klay Thompson we knew is gone. That’s not cause for panic, just something to be sad about. He’s letting guys blow past him, he’s shooting terribly, and he’s clearly in some sort of psychic torment and some of it manifests on the court. 

One man panicking is another just acknowledging reality. The Warriors’ course can’t be corrected until Myers and Lacob do so. The season can be saved, but the organizing principle that is currently controlling it can’t. It’s so simple it borders on lunacy, but if you really want more championship banners hanging on the rafters, you have to choose between Steph Curry and the future. And Joe Lacob made his choice long ago.

I love these in-the-moment critiques of Warriors basketball that continually are rendered moot the moment April hits and they start running through teams in the playoffs. Did you know the Dubs haven’t lost a Western Conference playoff series under Steve Kerr?

I truly enjoy snapshotting these moments of panic and sharing them with DNHQ to find whether it resonates or not. The last time I panicked watching Warriors basketball was when I freaked out about whether or not Luka Doncic had been banished to the shadow realm by Andrew Wiggins.

Obviously there’s places the Warriors need to get better: developing their stash of young first round picks like Jordan Poole, James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and James Wiseman is one of them. Keeping their composure in clutch moments no matter who is on the floor is another one of them.

Warriors on NBCS @NBCSWarriors

JP turns the ball over with under 10 seconds remaining in the game

But that’s so great about the 82-game season with a franchise as shrewd as Golden State, we get front row seats to watch them iron out the kinks as they tinker with the most proven championship formula of the modern basketball era. When Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green are healthy the Warriors don’t lose. Now it’s about developing the pieces around that core to bolster them today and in the future.

But feel free to panic if you want, we accept all types here at DNHQ!