SAN FRANCISCO – Unlike one year ago when the Warriors won three of their first four games with Jimmy Butler going into the NBA All-Star break and struck fear back into the league, the sprint to the finish line this season is without expectations. Those went out the window when Butler grabbed his right knee and screamed from the Chase Center floor in the third quarter of the Warriors’ win against his previous team, the Miami Heat, on Jan. 19.The Warriors’ title chances were crushed in an instant by Butler’s torn ACL. Nobody expects them to compete for a championship, and only a fraction of the fanbase huffing hopium still had that belief with a healthy Butler. Say goodbye to pressure and preseason predictions. This is a franchise that goes into every season with its eyes on the Larry O’Brien trophy and that vision has vanished. Among the Warriors’ own preseason goals was getting out of the purgatory of the play-in tournament. Since winning the 2022 championship, the Warriors have been subjected to the play-in tournament in two of the last three seasons. They didn’t survive the first time but did the second prior to a strained...