The Golden State Warriors didn't exactly get the season's stretch run off to an ideal start. Don't tell a defiant Klay Thompson the defending champions—back under .500 and just a half game above 11th in the Western Conference—won't finally be able to shake off persistent two-way struggles before it's too late, though.

After the short-handed Dubs were blown out by the new-look Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night, Thompson expressed wide-eyed optimism his team is bound to soon turn it around. Why? After more than a decade with the Warriors, success is pretty much all the four-time champion has ever known.

“Twenty three games left, we still have a great opportunity to finish very strong. You just continue to play your hardest and have fun while doing it,” Thompson said on the postgame podium. “There's a lot of basketball left, believe it or not. I know we still have greatness ahead of us. I'm never gonna not believe in this team. We've done too many great great things not to.”

Thompson scored a team-high 22 points on Thursday, the lone Warriors regular who looked even somewhat comfortable offensively with both Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins sidelined. Golden State shot 38.1% overall and 28.6% from three, failing to compensate for those woes on the other end despite LeBron James' rare off night as the Lakers went 16-of-30 on triples and raced out to 29 fast-break points.

Curry won't be back for at least another week. Wiggins' potential return from an excused personal absence is unknown. It would be shocking if Gary Payton II played before April. There's no telling when Andre Iguodala could retake the floor.

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Confident as Thompson is, even he understands the Warriors have no chance to right the ship before the postseason if they're not at close to full-strength. Here's hoping Curry and Wiggins, at least, are back in the lineup soon.

In the interim, the short-handed Dubs must scratch and claw for every win possible, beginning with the second leg of a back-to-back on Friday night against the lowly Houston Rockets.