It’s mid-March, and the Warriors are playing their best ball of the season.

with Jimmy Butler in the lineup and nine games over .500 — tied with its season-high — as it has climbed from 11th place at the end of January to sixth in the West.

Golden State is 12-1

Seemingly everything has clicked into place with Butler. He has slid role players like Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski and Gui Santos down the rotation and transformed the Warriors into the kind of two-way force they’ve aspired to become since training camp. Since , the Warriors (37-28) rank fifth in offensive rating and second in defensive rating.

the Butler trade

His presence has talking about a championship again — an outlandish prediction when he in February that suddenly isn’t so crazy. It’s a sprint to the finish, as head coach Steve Kerr likes to say, and the Warriors are looking spry.

Draymond Greenmade it at All-Star weekend

An axiom in the NBA is that the champion isn’t always the best team, but the hottest (and healthiest) in March, April, May and June.