Jimmy Butler's torn ACL ruins a Warriors season that looked increasingly promising

When Jimmy Butler tore his ACL, the Golden State Warriors were on their way to their 12th win in 16 games. After their previous game, coach Steve Kerr had said, "This is the most momentum we've had since we started out 4-1." They'd established a more consistent rotation, gotten their turnover problem under control and, as Kerr put it, gotten "settled" for the first time in a while. Golden State is 25-19 and eighth in the Western Conference following its 135-112 win against the Miami Heat on Monday. This group has played some extremely messy games, and last week Butler himself described the first half of the season as "mediocre." This is a particularly devastating injury, though, because...