Basketball is not a sport, it's a way of life.

Not all that glitters is gold, Las Vegas isn't betting on their bench, please no more Dray day...

• It’s a good thing Pascal Siakam finally got to the free-throw line last night because in the first two games that his Indiana Pacers played against the Boston Celtics this week, the Pacers forward joined a select group of players in league history by scoring 50 or more points over the course of two playoff games without attempting a single free throw. (As always, don’t forget to click “load all images” and all charts/graphs are expandable)

  If we expand the parameters to 40 points over two games, something conspicuously informative about the shift in officiating comes to light: In the history of the NBA, there have only been 34 instances of a player scoring 40 or more points over the course of consecutive playoff games without a single free-throw attempt, and five of those 34 occurrences have happened during these playoffs. That means a whopping 14.7% of the times this anomaly has occurred in the history of the league has happened during a single playoff stretch that is still unfolding. Many have commented about the shift in whistles based on contact since the Commissioner clearly implemented a new mandate after being visibly embarrassed following another atrocious All-Star game, and yet, perhaps this is the most clear-cut evidence of how significant that shift has been. (Interesting sidenote: Of those 34 occurrences, Klay Thompson is somewhat unsurprisingly responsible for eight of them.)

• Apparently, the secrets to alchemy have been unlocked down in Arizona, as the Phoenix Mercury have figured out how to turn Copper into gold. Of course, I’m referring to Phoenix forward Kahleah Copper, who through five games has led her surprising Mercury squad to a 3-2 record—this is the same team that won a league-worst nine games all of last season. Offensively, Phoenix has come out of the gates hot, scoring the second-most points per game in the league (88.2; LVA – 91.3) while averaging a league-leading 12.2 threes made per contest. For her part, Copper has been as scorching as a Phoenix sidewalk in July, as her 29.2 points per game is second in the entire league (Ogunbowale – 31.0), while shooting a blazing 50.5% from the floor and 48.6% from distance on 3.8 makes per game (good for third in the league behind Plum – 4.0 & Ogunbowale – 4.0). And as dangerous as Copper has been from distance this season, she is the quintessential three-level scorer, making 71.4% from the midrange while also hitting 50.0% at the rim. In fact, only Copper and fellow scoring machine, Dallas guard Arike Ogunbowale, are averaging a made field goal or more from all six distance markers (less than 5ft., 5-9ft., 10-14ft., 15-19ft., 20-24ft., 25-29ft.) used to analyze player shooting depths. For good measure, Copper is also making 86.7% from the free throw line, meaning that early-on in the season, she’s flirting with 50/40/90—Elena Delle Donne is the only 50/40/90 player in the league’s 28-year existence. More impressive still, Copper is putting up these numbers while playing the 27^th most minutes per game (31.3) in the league. Of the top-20 scorers in the W so far this season, only Minnesota’s Alanna Smith (30.9) and Mercury teammate Diana Taurasi (29.5) are playing fewer minutes than Copper, but with scoring marks of 15.8 and 19.0 points per game respectively, Copper has proven significantly more lethal in her time on the floor. The nine-year veteran out of Rutgers, who was dealt to the Mercury from the Chicago Sky this past offseason, is currently averaging an insane .93 points per minute. This past Tuesday, I had both the privilege and displeasure of watching Copper hang 37 on the Aces as she led the Mercury to a big road win in a game where, had she not tweaked her knee in the second quarter, she likely would have been pushing for 40+.

  It’s hard to imagine that Copper can keep up this scoring pace, yet even as regression occurs, just in watching her, you see a player who is in complete control of her game offensively. I imagine she sees the floor like Neo sees the matrix. The 29-year-old has managed to increase her scoring average every season since becoming an All-Star for the first time in ’21 with the Sky and is currently playing with the type of precision that usually requires 13 years of schooling and a steady hand with a scalpel. So far this season, Copper has been more clinical than clinician, but she is well on her way to earning her PhD in PPG.

• It’s not surprising that a team with three of the top-10 scorers in the league starting for them would have a bench that is considered less than potent offensively, but what’s been happening with the Aces’ reserve unit early on this season is the type of issue that could prove to be a fatal flaw that upends another title run. Las Vegas’ bench currently ranks last in minutes per game, field goals made, and scoring, and until their blowout victory last night against the Fever, in which the bench unit hung 20 points—much of which occurred once the game was out of reach—the Aces were at the bottom of those measures by very significant margins.