Good morning. It appears Blake Griffin can still dunk.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

RIP ARON BAYNES: While many were sleeping (not you, right?), Blake Griffin dunked on Aron Baynes. And again. And again. Three of the best five dunks of the weekend, in quick succession, by the same dude over the same dude. I feel like we can both commend Aron Baynes for his gallantry and laugh mercilessly at his fate. We are able to do both things simultaneously.

The Clippers hustled the Spurs as San Antonio struggled to shoot. L.A. up 1-0 on the champs.

KA-KAWTIOUS OPTIMISM: The Hawks beat the Nets, but it wasn’t altogether pretty. Paul Flannery reports from Atlanta on the glimpses of dominance and the little doubts about the Hawks’ upside.

BRUTALIZED: Recently I made a joke about how Raptors vs. Wizards would be super entertaining if actual raptors and wizards were competing. Well, what happened in Grizzlies vs. Trail Blazers is about what would happen if some grizzlies met some trail blazers. It was that bad. Mike Conley looks fine, which is a huge deal in this crazy West. Get loose Memphis!

Also, the Grizzlies’ mascot dove off of a ladder to slam a Portland mascot through a table. My God!

One of the very few things that didn’t go right for Memphis: this sad Vince Carter missed dunk.

CAV UP: The Celtics stayed close for a while, then Cleveland blew the doors off. Nice playoff debuts for Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and Isaiah Thomas. Kyrie hit a nasty crossover to stepback buzzer beater. LeBron was quite LeBronny.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE!
Bucks at Bulls, 8 p.m. ET, TNT
Pelicans at Warriors, 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT

THE ANT MAN COMETH: I wrote about how Anthony Davis alone almost beat the best team in the world.

THE NEW DERRICK ROSE: Zito Madu on how Derrick Rose will never be the same, but that’s OK.

SOUNDS ACCURATE: Paul Pierce is the greatest troll in NBA history. (Related: Pierce goaded Masai Ujiri into drawing himself a $35,000 fine.)

SO TRUE: If Dwight Howard plays as well as he did in Game 1 going forward, that bodes really well for Houston’s chances.

ZACH RANDOLPH IS AWESOME: He bought 500 tickets to Game 1 for Memphians who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend.

A HOME FOR LIL’ HOMIE: Isaiah Thomas has found a home with the Celtics. (We really thought he’d found a home in Sacramento, but alas.)

GOOD JOB, GUYS: A LeBron vs. MJ argument lands someone in jail.

PROFIT, PROFIT, YOU KNOW I GOT IT: Nice 538 piece on the profitable sneaker resale market.

REMINDER: Doc Rivers almost broke up the Tim Duncan-Gregg Popovich partnership. Twice.

NOT COUNTING THOSE CHICKENS: In a nice interview with Dave McMenamin, LeBron says he’s wary of his teammates’ playoff inexperience.

ON CP3: Very good profile of Chris Paul and his critics by Ben Bolch.

AWESOME: Craig Sager can’t work games right now, but he can write up his impressions of the season we just witnessed.

ANSWER ALERT: Showtime has an Allen Iverson doc coming on May 16. Here’s the trailer.

Happy Monday. See you next time.