Claims Jazz may have saved the West after beatdown from Warriors

They may have faced arguably the worst two teams in the Western Conference, but the Golden State Warriors have looked scarily good in their opening two games of the NBA season.

The Warriors set a new record for the biggest combined winning margin over the first two games of a season, following up their 36-point victory against the Portland Trail Blazers with a 41-point demolition of the Jazz in Utah on Friday night.

Did the Jazz save the West from more Warriors dominance with their offseason trade conversations?

As Matt John of The J Notes described after the one-sided contest on Friday, "reports about their (Warriors) demise may have been greatly exaggerated." Having seen the home team get pummelled and outscored by 49 points over the last 41 minutes of the game, John also pondered whether Utah may have done the Western Conference (and the league as a whole) a favor by not orchestrating a trade with Golden State involving Lauri Markkanen during the offseason.

..."Not giving them Markkanen may have just stopped the Western Conference from having to see a familiar powerhouse power through the conference for what feels like the umpteenth time," John wrote.

The Warriors depth has been the key reason behind their pair of blowout victories to start the season, led by a pair of historic performances from Buddy Hield who has 12 threes and 49 points in just 35 minutes across the first two games.

Yet the Golden State roster could have looked vastly different entering the season, having tried to acquire not one but both of Paul George and Markkanen during the summer. But the Clippers and Jazz proved unwilling to make a deal on either player, with George departing to the Philadelphia 76ers as a free agent and Markkanen re-signing in Utah.

The Warriors turned a sharp defensive focus to Markkanen in Friday's game, keeping the 2023 All-Star to just 13 points on 4-of-17 shooting from the floor. That had come after Markkanen had gone for 35 points and nine rebounds on 9-of-15 shooting against the Memphis Grizzlies in Utah's season opener.

It's interesting albeit pointless to consider where the Warriors would be if they had Markkanen right now. The jury is still out on whether the front office should have done more to try and land the Finnish forward, but the team certainly couldn't have been more impressive in their first two games to open the season.