A little over two weeks after many, including your truly, began the countdown to the Warriors’ inevitable disappearance from the playoff picture, Golden State has regrouped just in time to save its season. The Warriors won again on Monday, downing the New Orleans Hornets in the Big Easy by a final of 93-72. It marked the first time since 2004 that the Dubs held opponents to less than 80 points in consecutive contests.

Mar 18, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; Golden State Warriors power forward David Lee (10) shoots over New Orleans Hornets power forward Ryan Anderson (33) during the second half of a game at the New Orleans Arena. The Warriors defeated the Hornets 93-72. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Because we all saw that coming, right?

True, the Hornets aren’t exactly what you might call a “good” basketball team, but the Warriors’ performance on Sunday against Houston, the same Rockets team that tied an NBA record for three-pointers in a 140-point smack down at the beginning of February, leads me to believe that Golden State’s defense may have returned in the knick of time.

On Monday, it was especially stingy in the second and fourth quarters. In those periods, New Orleans managed just 25 total points, including just 11 in a final quarter that saw Golden State  turn a close game into a breeze.

On offense, the Warriors played uncharacteristically evenly, never getting “hot” enough to make a huge run, but never going so cold that the Hornets could seize the momentum. Stephen Curry, as is his custom, was the best player on the floor for the Dubs, finishing with 30 points on 10-of-19 shooting, including 6-of-9 from beyond the arc. Klay Thompson was off his game from inside the three-point line (5-of-15), but did hit 3-of-6 threes to add 13 points from the shooting guard position.

Down low, David Lee put together the only double-digit rebounding game for either team, adding another double-double to his tally with 20 points and 11 boards.

Once again, the other starters (minus Andrew Bogut, who pulled down nine rebounds) and bench players (minus Jarrett Jack, who led the team with five assists) did not have much impact on the proceedings at New Orleans Arena. The entire bench played a total of 86 minutes between them and only added 15 points to Golden State’s total. Harrison Barnes (just seven points on four total shots) has struggled to get open lately and has passed the bulk of the responsibility for scoring onto Curry and Lee as a result.

That will have to change on Wednesday when the Warriors head to San Antonio, where they haven’t won since the Alamo. Teams like the Spurs are too deep and too smart to let the Warriors run a Curry-Lee-occasionally Thompson offensive scheme and get away with it. Although it’s entirely possible that Mark Jackson deliberately let his stars carry the load on Monday against New Orleans because he knew he could still win the game without revealing too much, Warriors fans should be wary about the Spurs game coming down to Barnes’ or Draymond Green’s performance.

At this stage of the season, though, a team will take constructive criticism over just plain criticism. The Warriors are–kind of, sort of–back on track and can get back to ten games over .500 with what would be a rousing win over the Spurs on Wednesday. San Antonio is as vulnerable as they’ll be all season, without star guard Tony Parker and presumabl;y already beginning preparations for the playoffs, and Golden State should enter the game with confidence.

And why not? After all, what’s a better warm-up for a big game than a three-touchdown win?

According to several reports, however, that scenario has more than a puncher’s chance of playing out very shortly, with Thompson involved in a rumored trade for New Orleans Hornets’ guard Eric Gordon.

There are so many dimensions to this potential deal that it is difficult to know where to begin. Perhaps the best starting point is the question “Why?” Thompson’s game has improved dramatically from his rookie season, with the second-year shooting guard averaging 16.4 points per game over 35 minutes per contest. When he’s on, the Warriors become one of the better scoring teams in the league. Among Warriors, only Stephen Curry represents a bigger threat from behind the three-point arc.

Feb 9, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson (11) dribbles the ball past Dallas Mavericks shooting guard O.J. Mayo (32) during the game at the American Airlines Center. The Mavericks defeated the Warriors 116-91. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The answer to “why?” may be the same response used when Golden State traded Monta Ellis to Milwaukee. As noted by KNBR radio host Larry Kruger on the “Gary and Larry” morning radio show in the Bay Area, Thompson’s “people” believe that Klay’s style may not mesh with Curry’s, hinting that the Warriors’ backcourt cannot co-exist. That notion is easy for fans to dismiss, but think of it this way: how effective could you be at your job if you had someone working in the cubicle next to you with a nearly identical skill set? What if you and the co-worker constantly clamored for the same projects, the same tasks, but your boss continued to defer (for the most part) to the slightly more experienced employee?

(Apologies to those of you that don’t work in cubicles.)

Then there’s the other half of this rumor. Eric Gordon would add a potentially dynamic presence to the Warriors’ roster, but also a handful of question marks. Just one year older than Thompson, Gordon has shown flashes of brilliance, evidenced by a 45 percent field goal rate in 224 career games. The league knows he can play, too, something made clear when New Orleans demanded Gordon in the trade that sent Chris Paul to the Clippers.

Unfortunately, injuries have plagued Gordon throughout his short career. The 24-year old guard has only played 19 games this season due to a variety of ailments, and past concerns have scared many a team away from attempting to acquire his talents. With Curry presenting his own risks, it would be a slightly shaky proposition at best for Golden State to hedge its bets on a starting backcourt that isn’t exactly a bastion of health.

Then there’s the money. Gordon doesn’t have what many would call an agreeable contract, which could ultimately be the biggest snag. The Hornets’ guard is currently in year one of a 4-year, $58 million contract. If you’re going to take that on, you’d better be darn sure you’re going to get your money’s worth. In a salary-capped league, Golden State could find itself stuck with all those dollars on the bench and nowhere to unload them. Even if Gordon remains healthy, is he so much of a better player that it would be worth spending the extra money on him, regardless of how Thompson “meshes” with Curry?

Additionally, because of the great disparity between Thompson’s and Gordon’s contracts, Golden State would have to unload another player. Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio cited league sources saying that Andris Biedrins or Richard Jefferson could become the extra piece. At the very least, a Thompson-Gordon swap could assuage the nation of Biedrins haters that have accumulated amongst the Warriors fan base.

In this writer’s opinion, the trade is unlikely to happen for several reasons, the most pressing of which are Gordon’s health, his contract and the fact that Thompson could emerge as a star within the next year. He may already be a better defender than Gordon is and appears to only be getting better with experience. If the deal does indeed happen, it will be a polarizing one, but until they cross that bridge, the Warriors must retain focus and shake off the malaise of a six-game losing streak that no trade in the world is going to fix by itself.