I woke up this morning to an email from my dad. A quick one-line note “I’ve only got three words to say: “Chris ‘Freakin’ Hunter”.

Sure, Hunter’s Warriors debut was solid, as he helped out a Warriors team plagued with injuries and the flu to provide some solid defense at the center position.

But the story of this week for the Warriors, without question, is the performance of Monta Ellis. After the Stephen Jackson trade, Warriors fans were left to wonder whether Monta would be the next Warrior to leave. He had clashed recently with Don Nelson in practice, and his agent met with the Warriors brass on Thursday to discuss his future with the team. Its possible he wants to be traded and get away from a franchise that doesn’t appear to be going anywhere this season. All Warriors fans should be hoping that somehow the meeting on Thursday went well. Hopefully it was simply a check-in meeting to talk about Ellis’ future as a Warrior, as opposed to his future as a non-Warrior.

Regardless of how Ellis feels behind the scenes, his play on the court has been tremendous. In last night’s game against Portland, he played the best defensive game of his entire career, tallying 6 steals and holding superstar Brandon Roy to a measly 17 points. To boot, Ellis added 34 points of his own and was able to score at will. He’s playing like a franchise player right now.

Ellis, Anthony Morrow and Stephen Curry all were forced to play the entire game last night, as the Warriors were left without any other options at the guard positions. Late in the game, noticeably tired, Ellis still showed that he was the best player on the court – driving to the hoop, dishing to Anthony Randolph inside, and stealing the ball away from Roy for a layup.

As the Warriors head back on the road to Dallas and San Antonio, the most important thing they can do now would be to get healthy. The expected announcement that Kelenna Azubuike is out for the year is a big blow, as is the news that recently acquired Raja Bell won’t be able to play through his wrist injury and will be heading under the knife this week. Still, CJ Watson (swine flu) should be back this week, and Andris Biedrins shouldn’t be far behind. Both of those additions would be a big boost, although the way they played shorthanded against Cleveland and Portland, they might be best served only having 8 healthy bodies all year!