Kurtenbach: One bad Jimmy Butler step has thrown everything into question for the Warriors

It happened on a play you’ve seen a thousand times. A low-post entry. A jump step. A plant.

It was standard operating procedure for a Warriors third-quarter possession on Monday night in January against the Heat; the kind of mundane basketball action that usually fades from memory before the next commercial break.

But then Jimmy Butler didn’t get up.

And that’s the tell. Butler—a bonafide NBA warlord — does not stay down unless something is seriously wrong.

He is granite wrapped in Nike.