• Return of Ellis. I think his ankle injury hurt him more than the team has admitted, so we’ll see if the long layoff gets him back to his old self. The All-Star reserves will be announced before the game, so assuming that Ellis is left off he may have added motivation to put up some big numbers. Let’s just hope that doesn’t lead to him forcing anything.
• The All Star. One Warrior will be participating in All-Star weekend, as Steph Curry has been announced for the Rookie-Sophomore game (and may also play in the 3-point shootout). Can he continue his current hot streak, or will he be the victim if Ellis regains his dominance of the team’s shot attempts?
• Fundamentals. Smart mentioned that he was going to take advantage of the extra time off by going back to basics in a few key areas (rebounding off missed free throws was one needed refresher I remember him mentioning), and lord knows they could use this. But let’s see if it takes — can they avoid the stupid mistakes tonight?

AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps

The road trip mercifully comes to an end, and one can only hope that a good night’s sleep in their own beds will remind these guys (Monta excluded) how to shoot. Outside of his 9-16, the rest of the team went 19-66 (29%). Ugly.

And the board-work wasn’t much better. The Warriors got creamed 58-42, a margin that would have been worse without Adrien’s solid contribution of 8 boards in 19 minutes. Adrien posted a +10, and after Brandon Wright’s lifeless zero-rebound performance I’d like to see Adrien get some more playing time in the games ahead. Adrien’s already 6th on the team in Wins Produced in just 30 minutes, so might as well see what you’ve got before Amundson and Udoh return.

Aside from Adrien’s nice contribution off the bench, Monta deserves a ton of credit for being the only starter to really show up tonight. Curry went 3-14, Dorell Wright went 2-14, and Biedrins went 0-4. These are just not the sorts of lines you can get from your starters on the road and expect to win (especially with a guy like Lee out).

With the new owner’s half-price promotion on Monday, I’d expect to see a sold out, extremely drunk crowd in their return to the Oracle. If that doesn’t give this team some energy and snap them out of their scoring funk, I’m not sure what will.

• The Wonder Duo. Can Monta and/or Curry go nuts and will the team to the victory? I have a hard time imagining the Warriors winning this game without an all-world performance from one of their two available stars; Curry seems the better bet with his matchup tonight against Jennings.
• Second Chances. Brandon Wright totally blew his chance to turn some heads in his start against the Bulls, and did nothing to prove he can get the job done. He gets relegated to the bench tonight, but with Lee out he’ll have ample opportunity to make up for his missed chance in the last game. But will he?