Good morning. The fate of basketball is at stake.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

GAME 5, 8 P.M. ET, ABC, SERIES TIED 2-2, NO GAME HAS EVER BEEN MORE IMPORTANT. THE SOUL OF THE NBA IS ON THE LINE.

THE DEPTH IS REAL: Paul Flannery on how Golden State used its superior depth to win Game 4, and how difficult that will be for Cleveland to beat going forward.

MORE ADJUSTMENTS! Tim Cato on the three things the Cavaliers can do to retake control.

LIVING, INDEED: J.A. Adande on Shaun Livingston’s difficult trek to and immense enjoyment of the Finals.

GAME 5 ANTHEM STATUS: Metallica. Critical mistake by the Warriors. Don’t they know how much this is going to pump up Timofey Mozgov?!

AMAZING, INDEED: The Cavaliers are 3-0 when they have the Amazing Sladek -- the older acrobat with the tower of chairs -- do halftime. So of course he’s making the trek up from Florida to do Game 6. His life story, captured by Scott Cacciola, is incredible.

REWARD FOR THE RISK: Ramona Shelburne asks whether Cleveland’s bet on J.R. Smith will pay off. There’s some really good back story on Smith here.

THIS DUDE CAN’T CATCH A BREAK: Cavs or their people are anonymously ragging on David Blatt to Brian Windhorst about dudes like Kendrick Perkins, Shawn Marion, Mike Miller and/or Brendan Haywood not being in the regular rotation. Bros, come on.

HAPPY TRAILS: Shawn Marion’s retirement plans sound amazing.

JOEL EMBAAD: The Sixers’ prized 2014 pick, Joel Embiid, has suffered a setback with the recovery for his injured foot. Summer League is unlikely and this could affect next season if he has another surgery. Is there a GIF of Sam Hinkie doing an evil laugh somewhere? Or do the Sixers actually want to win now?

THIS IS GOING TO BE GREAT: So Kristaps Porzingis did a one-on-none special workout in Las Vegas for a bunch of teams, and because it’s pretty easy to look awesome without a defender in your grill, everyone fell in love with the Latvian. Now there are rumors the Lakers will consider Porzingis at No. 2!

VERY MJ: Michael Jordan is chilling in Paris, talking to a French newspaper about how trash the Hornets are. He said he could beat some of them individually, but won’t because he doesn’t want to destroy their confidence. BECAUSE SURELY GIVING A QUOTE SAYING YOU ARE BETTER THAN THEM AT AGE 50 WILL DO WONDERS FOR THEIR CONFIDENCE. Meanwhile, I’m just trying to figure out what an MJ-vs-Biyombo one-on-one battle would even look like.

SPEAKING OF WHICH ... Al Jefferson will not opt to become a free agent, reports Marc Stein.

Happy Sunday. Enjoy Game 5. See you next time.