The Warriors drowned the Cavaliers’ hopes and dreams in champagne

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

CHAMPAGNE ALL OVER THE COURT AND THE CITY, WHAT A MESS: The Warriors destroyed the Cavaliers in the MLK showcase game. Like, destroyed. The final margin was 34, but Golden State was up 26 at the half and 37 after three. Nothing the Cavs did could slow the Warriors, and Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love -- those missing ingredients from the Finals -- were ineffective. Love’s defense will be a storyline for the rest of the season and perhaps his life after Steph Curry and Draymond Green juked him something fierce on this pick-and-roll.

My favorite play was probably when a courtside fan tried to scream in Curry’s ear to alter a shot with the Cavs down like 30. It didn’t work.

ANOTHER ONE: DJ Khaled live-snapped the game and came up with some gems like “The key is to have the highest score.”

SCORES ...

PHI 113, NYK 119 (2OT)
UTAH 119, CHA 124 (2OT)
POR 108, WAS 98
NOP 99, MEM 101
CHI 111, DET 101
ORL 81, ATL 98
BKN 100, TOR 112
GSW 132, CLE 98
BOS 113, DAL 118 (OT)
HOU 132, LAC 140 (OT)

WELPVILLE: The Rockets scored on their own basket on a botched rebound. The Rockets lost in overtime. Lance Stephenson and Josh Smith got bored and sparred with 10 seconds left.

KEMBA! Kemba Walker scored a career-high 52 in Charlotte’s double overtime win against Utah. Kemba Walker is actually the only clutch player in the NBA.

THIS IS BAD: The Knicks won a completely awful double-overtime game against Philly. Really, it was bad.

AWESOME: Damian Lillard put out a video for his social justice/civil rights focused new song, “Bigger Than Us.”

SPEAKING OF WHICH ... Kudos to the Turner Sports team for a spectacular NBA Tip-off before Cavs-Warriors. Ernie and the guys broadcasted live from The King Center in Atlanta. One segment featured Congressman John Lewis and MLK’s daughter Bernice King talking about Dr. King’s legacy. The next segment was an awesome taped piece narrated by Steve Smith on athlete activism with commentary from Kareem, Andrew Young and MLK III. They showed a clip of Dame’s video, Chuck, Shaq and Kenny talked about activism in their own lives and in the league and there was like zero basketball talk. It was wonderful. Again, kudos to everyone involved. That was one spectacular hour of MLK Day programming.

Here’s a nice USA Today piece on what the NBA seeks to do with the holiday in a broader sense.

FANTASTIC: Kyle Lowry corrects DeMar DeRozan’s grammar during a TV interview, makes a well-time USC joke.

SPEAKING OF DEMAR ... He unveiled the single greatest campaign spot in any election ever.

TEAM USA: Jeff Zillgitt breaks down where the 2016 USA Basketball roster stands. There are 30 names right now and few commits.

YEP: The Sixers are a punchline on The Simpsons.

INTERESTING: Hassan Whiteside on why he decided to remain in the D-League instead of taking way more money to return to China.

CONGRATULATIONS! The Basketball Jones/The Starters podcast/TV show/cartel is 10 years old. This long oral history podcast is spectacular and well worth listening to whether you know some of the history or not. Skeets, Tas and JD were always funny, kind and smart, and Matty, Leigh and of course our buddy Trey were wonderful additions along the way. Cheers to The Starters, and here’s to 10 more years!

Happy Tuesday. See you next time.