Warriors get crucial Jimmy Butler silver lining that makes them even more dangerous

The Golden State Warriors are left licking their wounds after a painful loss in the regular season finale on Sunday afternoon, with a 124-119 overtime loss to the L.A. Clippers succumbing them to a spot in the Play-In Tournament and a matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies at Chase Center on Tuesday.

As disappointing as the result was from a Warrior perspective, it's not all doom and gloom for the Warriors who played reasonably well but ran into one of the most in-form teams in the league. As Steve Kerr said in his the post-game press conference, "that's one of the best teams in the NBA, and so are we."

Jimmy Butler rounded into 'Playoff Jimmy' for the Warriors on Sunday

The biggest positive takeaway for Golden State was arguably the increased aggression from Jimmy Butler. For weeks fans have been waiting to see "Playoff Jimmy" in action, and with a playoff-like atmosphere at Chase Center on Sunday, the 6x All-Star delivered his full force through the first three-quarters.

Against what finished as the third-best defensive team for the season, Butler posted his first 30-point game with the Warriors on an efficient 12-of-20 shooting. 24 of those came through the first 36 minutes of the game, with the 35-year-old scoring 11 of Golden State's 24 points in the third as the teams continued to go back and forth.

It should have been even better for Butler, with the newest Warrior star likely to regret his 6-of-9 shooting from the free-throw line. He had entered the game an incredible 61-of-63 from the line over the previous eight games, with even one more made free-throw potentially allowing Golden State to avoid overtime and eventually defeat.

Regardless, the fact Butler increased his aggressiveness, scored the most points 9and took the most field-goal attempts) of his Warrior career in this moment is the surest sign yet that 'Playoff Jimmy' still exists.

Golden State are going to be a more dangerous team and a bigger threat if Butler can recreate that going forward, having also scored 28 points and 24 points in the previous two games against the San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers.

It's not as if the playmaking has dissipated either, with Butler still having dished out nine assists on Sunday and 23 over his final three games of the regular season. The attention will now be on whether he can sustain it from a health standpoint, having suffered a leg injury in the final minute of overtime when Kawhi Leonard inadvertently kneed him in the thigh on a drive to the basket.