The Warriors Aren’t Afraid of Anyone, But Still Shouldn’t Want to Face the Utah Jazz

Even though the Golden State Warriors can beat any team in the NBA, they would be much better off facing the Los Angeles Clippers rather than the Utah Jazz.

Make no mistake about it, the Golden State Warriors are really, really good. For the second straight year they’ve finished with the best record in the league (67-15). With a stellar starting lineup that features four All-Stars in Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green along with a phenomenal set of role players, it’s hard to see any other team being able to topple them.

There’s a reason why FiveThirtyEight has pinned the Warriors as having a 70 percent chance of winning the NBA Championship before the Western Conference Semi-Finals have even begun. Golden State was the top team in the league in offensive efficiency (113.2) by a wide margin and second only to the San Antonio Spurs in defensive efficiency (101.1).

The Warriors also led the league in the regular season in scoring (115.9 PPG), field goal percentage (49.5 percent), assists (30.4 APG), steals (9.6 SPG), blocks (6.8 BPG) and average margin of victory (11.6 points). In short, this Golden State team was dominant all season long and absolutely has no reason to fear any team they find themselves matched up against in the postseason.

Even so, they still ought to be cheering for the Los Angeles Clippers in order to avoid playing the Utah Jazz in the second round.

For as good as Chris Paul has been during his time in LA as well as Blake Griffin when he’s been healthy, the Warriors have absolutely had their way with the Clips over the course of the past three years. Since the 2014-15 season, LA is just 1-11 against them.

This year was especially tough on the Clippers as their defeats to the Warriors came at an average margin of victory of 21.5 points per contest, which included a 46-point drubbing (144-98) on January 28, 2017. Of course, Chris Paul was inactive for that game while the Warriors rolled out a fully healthy squad, but that’s still a painful loss nonetheless.

But to say that the Clippers are the only ones who have struggled against Golden State would be absolutely untrue. In reality, they’ve dominated most of the rest of the league in that fashion, including the Utah Jazz. Since the 2014-15 season, the Jazz have fared only slightly better than the Clippers with a record of 2-9 against Golden State.

Of course, prior to this season, Utah was a lottery team for the first two of those aforementioned three years, so one could argue that their losses were much more expected than LA’s. Thus to get a more accurate feel for how Utah could potentially match-up against the Warriors, the 2016-17 regular season is likely a better portrayal.

In the first bout between the two teams, Utah went toe-to-toe with the Warriors and eventually lost by just seven points despite the fact that the Jazz were without George Hill, Rodney Hood, Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors.

In the second contest, Utah suffered a blowout loss similar to that of the Clippers as they fell 104-74 in a game in which once again Hill and Favors were sidelined and Hayward put up likely his most forgettable performance of the year with six points on just 2-of-10 shooting.

In the final contest between these two squads, Utah was able to pull away late to come away with a 105-99 win. Sure, the Warriors didn’t play their starters in the fourth quarter and, yes, they had already claimed the top seed in the West, but that doesn’t change the fact that Utah hung with the Warriors for 36 minutes (the game was tied heading into the fourth) without Hayward, Favors or Hill while Durant, Green and Curry all logged right around 30 minutes each.

But setting the regular season results to one side, the true reason why Golden State shouldn’t want to play Utah is the simple fact that the Jazz present a tougher match-up for the Warriors than the Clippers do. Even if the Jazz are swept, their slow tempo, formidable defense and non-stop string of weapons both among the starters and the bench will make for a grueling and tiring series for the defending Western Conference Champions.

The Jazz are healthier now than they were pretty much all year long and that is allowing them to roll out both a first and second unit that is stocked full of guys who can both score and defend well. As formidable as Golden State is and as minuscule as their weaknesses are, the two slights against them all year have been their lack of size and talent in the frontcourt and their less than impressive depth.

And the Jazz just so happen to be one of the best-equipped teams to exploit those weak points. The Jazz can go versatile to match Golden State’s so-called “death lineup” with guys like Joe Johnson and Boris Diaw. They can go ultra-shooter with guys like Joe Ingles and Rodney Hood. Or they can go big and clog the paint with a dynamic defensive duo of Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors.

Not to mention, Golden State tends to have their way by controlling the tempo of games and running teams off the floor. But while the Warriors ranked fourth in the regular season in pace at 102.2 possessions per game, the Jazz ranked dead last at 93.6 possessions per game.

And as good as Golden State is at picking up the tempo, Utah hangs their cap on being able to slow the pace and turn games into a slog-fest. And that’s just the way they like it.

Furthermore, Rudy Gobert alone will be one of the major reasons why Golden State ought to be wary of the Jazz. Don’t get me wrong, LA’s DeAndre Jordan is a formidable player in his own right and could cause the Warriors some issues if the Clippers advance, but Gobert’s ability to clog the paint and protect the rim is absolutely phenomenal.

There are plenty of reasons why Gobert is in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year while Jordan is not. In fact, even many Clippers fans have criticized Jordan for being lazy on defense in the current series.

The length and athleticism of Gobert will without a doubt prove to be bothersome on both ends of the floor for a Warriors team that really doesn’t have a player that can match-up against him. Sure, JaVale McGee looked good against a putrid Blazers frontcourt in Golden State’s first-round sweep, but it’s going to take a lot more than that for me to believe he’s anything more than a mediocre player that just so happens to be surrounded by a lot of elite talent.

And while there’s no questioning that Golden State’s starting lineup is the most talented overall in the league, that still doesn’t mean that their Big 4 can play all 48 minutes. In the rare times when Golden State is relying on their bench, the Jazz absolutely have to take advantage.

The Warriors have some solid reserves, most notably Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, along with some younger up-and-comers who have played well such as Patrick McCaw and Ian Clark, but with Utah rolling out the likes of Joe Johnson (who’s been the most clutch player in the postseason so far), Rodney Hood and Derrick Favors off the bench, there’s no denying that the Jazz will be able to throw a lot of tough guys to handle at the Warriors.

And even though Utah’s chances of winning the series are infinitesimally small, they will almost certainly be able to put up more of a fight than a Blake Griffin-less Clippers team.

I mean no disrespect in saying that about the Clippers as they’ve proven equal to the Jazz in every way so far in the postseason and could still prove superior if they win Games 6 and 7. But the Warriors are absolutely accustomed to beating this LA team, whereas the current Jazz team has never been this confident, healthy or formidable in any match-ups against Golden State over the past few years.

Figure in as well all the match-up advantages that Utah has that LA doesn’t, and it’s pretty evident just how much more energy, effort and grind the Warriors would have to extol in a series against the Jazz than against the Clippers.

Therefore, make no mistake about it, although I would never ever expect a confident team like the Warriors to admit fear or preference towards any team, the fact of the matter is that somewhere deep down, this Golden State team has got to be pulling for the Clippers to defeat the Jazz and thus provide them with a much more favorable match-up in the second round.

But just as I did in my article from yesterday, I’m likely getting a bit ahead of myself again. Utah is by no means whatsoever a shoe-in to win their current series. The Clippers aren’t going to back down and tomorrow’s Game 6 is going to be an absolutely crucial contest.

However, should the Jazz advance as all of the Utah faithful very much hope will be the case, although the Warriors would never admit it, it would likely be very much to their dismay.

More from The J-Notes

• With the FIBA World Cup over for Simone Fontecchio, it’s clear he deserves minutes for the Utah Jazz
• Best, Worst and Most likely scenarios for the Utah Jazz this season
• Hoops Hype downplays the significance of the Utah Jazz’s valuable assets
• 3 Utah Jazz players who have the most to gain or lose this season
• Former Utah Jazz forward Rudy Gay is a free agent still and it shouldn’t surprise anyone

Rather than take on the Clippers who they already have figured out, they’d be faced with a healthy Jazz team that has some unique weapons that could push them in a number of ways they have yet to experience.

And even though I don’t expect the Jazz to beat the Warriors in a seven-game series this season, potentially having the chance to see that match-up and watching how the Jazz exploit Golden State’s almost imperceptible weaknesses make winning their first-round bout against the Clippers all the more important.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com and ESPN.com.