Predicting Warriors' seven-game homestand without Draymond

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Klay Thompson has finally returned to basketball. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Grant Liffmann breaks down how the Warriors forwards return couldn’t have gone better.

Home sweet home. The Warriors are back at Chase Center, where they have gone 18-3 this season, and will start a seven-game homestand starting Tuesday night against the Detroit Pistons. 

During this long stretch of home games, the Warriors will face three teams from the Eastern Conference and four from the West. They're slated to see stars such as Domantas Sabonis, Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Luka Doncic, the Minnesota Timberwolves' trio of Anthony Edwards, D'Angelo Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns and a James Harden-led Brooklyn Nets. 

The Warriors will be without one of their own stars in Draymond Green. After sustaining what was first called calf tightness during pregame warmups in Klay Thompson's return, we now know the injury was caused by a disc issue in his lower back, which will leave him out of the entire homestand

It doesn't need to be said how important Green is to their success, but it will again be tested as the Warriors go against a handful of stars and strong teams. With all that being said, what should we expect out of these seven home games? 

Let's take a quick look at each one. 

Jan. 18 vs. Pistons 

Green or no Green, this shouldn't be a hard one for Draymond's current team against his childhood team. The Warriors played the Pistons earlier this season and only won by three points. But that was on the second night of a back-to-back and both Green and Steph Curry sat out. 

That game also saw Frank Jackson (!) drop 27 points on Golden State. We're going to go ahead and label that one as an outlier. The Pistons allow the seventh-most points per game and opposing teams shoot 36.7 percent from 3-point range against them. This could be a big night for the Splash Brothers. 

Jan. 20 vs. Pacers

Before Tuesday morning's news, this looked like an intriguing matchup, especially without Green. But Pacers center Myles Turner has a stress reaction in his left foot and will be re-examined in two weeks. Maybe this is a chance for the Warriors to take a long look at Sabonis or wonder what-if with rookie Chris Duarte. 

The Pacers have been a disappointment this season, to say the least. A combination of Sabonis, Duarte and Caris LeVert could pose a problem, but expect another Warriors win here. 

Jan. 21 vs. Rockets 

The second night of a back-to-back is never easy. Klay Thompson likely will sit this one out, and he probably won't be the only one. This certainly has the ugly stench of a schedule loss and playing down to the competition. 

The Rockets are full of fun, young talent. Not enough for a win here, though. The Warriors make it three straight. 

Jan. 23 vs. Jazz

Here's where it gets hard. The Jazz will go from playing the Pistons and the Rockets to having a day off and facing a Draymond-less Warriors team. The Warriors had one of their best performances this season in a 123-116 win against the Jazz, a win without Green. 

Pulling that off again won't be an easy ask. This could be the first bump in the road on the homestand, followed by another one a few nights later. 

Jan. 25 vs. Mavs

The Warriors had perhaps their worst game of the season earlier this month against the Dallas Mavericks. They scored a season-low 82 points in a 99-82 loss on the road. They shot 17.9 percent from the 3-point line, including Curry going just 1-for-9. 

Luka Doncic has averaged 28.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.7 assists over 11 career games against the Warriors. He dropped 26 points with seven rebounds and eight assists against them earlier this month. Golden State going against Doncic with Green always is a scary thought. Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga should get plenty of run against Dallas' star, but it might not be enough. 

Expect this to be a close one. A loss would drop them to 3-2 on the homestand. 

Jan. 27 vs. T-Wolves

Without Curry or Green, the Warriors recently just lost to this team by 20 points. The odds aren't in Minnesota's favor for that to happen again. Kuminga scored 19 points off the bench in that loss and had seven rebounds, but he was a minus-30 in plus-minus. He'll need to be better against Towns, who had 26 and 11. 

The one time that Curry has played against the T-Wolves this season, he scored 25 points in a 13-point win. We see more of that happening again. 

Jan. 29 vs. Nets

Reminder No. 5769823 that injuries suck. Kevin Durant finally was supposed to play in front of Warriors fans at Chase Center for the first time. Instead, he sustained a freak knee injury and is out for the next four to six weeks. 

RELATED: Five factors that will determine Warriors' fate in second half

Before the season, this was supposed to be Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving against Curry, Thompson and Green. All NBA fans had this one circled on their calendar. Now it's Harden without KD or Kyrie against Steph and Klay. That hasn't worked out too well for him in the past. 

The Warriors take down The Beard and end their homestand with a 5-2 record. That would improve them to 36-14 going into a mini Texas two-step on the road against the Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs. See that as nothing but a success, while their expectations only grow. 

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