Five and a half months and 78 games after the Golden State Warriors defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in Southern California to begin the 2025-26 regular season, the Lakers came up to the Bay Area and got their revenge in the Warriors' home finale.

Thanks to the myriad of injuries that plagued the Warriors on Thursday night, largely due to the back-to-back nature of this game with a matchup on the road against the Kings just 24 hours later, key players like Steph Curry, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and more ended up watching from the sidelines, leaving just 10 healthy bodies for the Dubs.

The Lakers weren't exactly healthy either, as both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are battling back from leg injuries, but they still had LeBron James, and even though he's 41 years old, he's still the greatest player of all time for a reason.

Behind James' 26, 8, and 11 stat line and a whopping 55.2% shooting from beyond the arc, the Lakers ran away with the win in the second half and beat the Warriors in their last home game of the season, 119-103.

Despite how badly the Warriors have been affected by injuries and their set course for the 10th seed in the Play-In, Steve Kerr remains optimistic.

"Obviously we've been through the wringer here over the last six to eight weeks, but we're in a position where we have a chance to get in the playoffs. Got some guys who are getting healthy. Got a chance to hopefully put together a game tomorrow where we have what our roster would look like for the Play-In game. Tomorrow and Sunday, maybe we get a couple games to develop a little rhythm and get a swing at it. We've got some hope."

Notably, both Curry and Porzingis should be available to play the Kings on Friday night, meaning the two players the Dubs will look to most for offense can play more than the 8 minutes they've had together all season.

The loss to the Lakers was a bit of a mixed bag for the Warriors, even when considering the injuries and the subdued expectation for a win.

One extremely positive thing from this game was the continued fantastic play of big man Charles Bassey. The Warriors just signed him to a 10-day contract on Sunday, but in the three games he's played since, Bassey has been excellent.

In 67 total minutes across the three games, he's averaged 10.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game, holding it down on the interior while so many of the Warriors' big man rotation watches from the sideline, outside of the undersized Draymond Green.

However, Bassey's 12-point, 13-rebound double-double on Thursday and the 7 Warriors to score in double figures were a bit hampered due to yet another injury.

This time, it was two-way guard LJ Cryer, who has shot the ball extremely well in his short time with the Dubs. Cryer looked to hurt his ankle after coming down on the foot of the Lakers' Jarred Vanderbilt after taking a floater, having to be helped off the court by Rick Celebrini and others on the Warriors' training staff.

Realistically, Cryer's role would be smaller when players like Curry are back on the court, especially for a high-stakes Play-In Game when rotations are typically shrunk, but it's still terrible to see yet another Warrior go down with an apparent injury.