Some rival coaches, execs would rather face Warriors in 1st round than Jazz or Thunder

The regular-season finale on Tuesday night for the Warriors... did not go well.

Golden State lost at Utah by 40 points -- 119 to 79.

[PODCAST: Who would be toughest/easiest matchup for Warriors in 1st round?]

Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.

On Wednesday morning, ESPN's Zach Lowe revealed the following on his podcast:

I was talking with several coaches and execs from teams in the West morass – from 3 to 9 – the fear factor for the Warriors without Curry does not exist.

There are people who will say ‘I would rather play the Warriors right now in the first round than the Thunder or the Jazz.’ Right now. In this state, in which they are 7-10 in their last 17 games and Curry is hurt and they just lost by 1,000 points last night.

These are Gchats and texts that are happening last night during the Jazz’s complete destruction of a team that clearly doesn’t care very much. That’s a bridge too far for me, but anyway…”

Based on the way the Warriors have played since March 8 (the night Steph Curry tweaked his ankle again vs the Spurs), it's hard to completely disagree with this.

From last night:

Without Steph Curry in uniform, teams don't really fear the Warriors. They believe they have a chance to beat the Warriors. And that belief really does matter
— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) April 11, 2018