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

DeWanna bucket, Jaylen ailing, Taurasi the terrific...

QUICK HITS

• I don’t know if DeWanna Bonner has any tattoos (she wears long-sleeve shirts while she plays), but if she’s looking for an idea, I posit a stamp similar to those that represent the grade of beef that says, “certified bucket.” In an opening night matchup against the Indiana Fever on Tuesday, in which she scored 20 points on the way to leading her Connecticut Sun to a victory, spoiling the debut of Caitlin Clark in the process, Bonner became the fifth leading scorer all-time in WNBA history when she scored her 16^th point of the night. While it may have been Bonner’s first time ever playing against Clark, in an entertaining bit of intrigue, it was perhaps the ultimate revenge game, as in the course of reaching fifth on the all-time scoring list, Bonner actually passed her former Phoenix Mercury teammate and ex-wife Candice Dupree. How’s that for winning the breakup? In all seriousness, Bonner, who at 36 years old seems to be showing no signs of slowing down, has proven to be an enduringly adept offensive performer. With her combination of impressive size for a perimeter player (6’4) and mobility, she has become one of the league’s all-time great three-level scorers. Now in her 15^th season, Bonner will very likely climb to third all-time before the year is out, though some of that depends on how the fourth all-time scorer, Tina Charles plays this year. Here’s a look at how Bonner stacks up against the other all-time great WNBA scorers. (click to expand graphic; make sure to click “load all images”)

• Anyone who has played the game of basketball at a competitive level knows that free throw shooting is as much a mental exercise as it is a physical one. To that end, I’m not sure what the hell is going on with Jaylen Brown, but perhaps a visit to a therapist is in order. During these playoffs, Brown is averaging an impressive 21.4 points per game, good for 16^th amongst all players this postseason, but he is converting just 61.7% from the line, despite shooting an impressive 55.4% from the field. This equates to Brown being the second-best shooter from the floor amongst all players in the top-20 in scoring during the postseason (Jokić – 55.6%), yet also being second-worst from the line of that same group (Siakam – 57.7%). Were this just a by-product of a small sample size, it wouldn’t garner much attention, but Brown’s shooting percentages from the line have declined every postseason for the last four that he has played in:

  2020 – 84.1%

  2022 – 76.3%

  2023 – 68.9%

  2024 – 61.4%

  This is particularly disconcerting for a Boston team notorious for playing with their food and letting games stay tighter than they have any business being. Hopefully, this doesn’t come back to haunt the Celtics, though it’s definitely a factor to monitor as they continue their run towards a title.

• I know that I have been hard on Luka Dončić at times this year. It’s not because I don’t like him, hell, I think he’s one of the three best basketball players in the world. It’s just that the histrionics have grated on me to the point where I struggle at times to watch him without that element of his game affecting how I view him as a player, particularly when he costs his team defensively because he’s too busy malingering for a call. Despite that, I would have to be a fool to deny just how damn talented and impactful a player he is when he’s locked in. And to his credit, there may be no player better in league history at being locked in when the game matters most.

  After another superb performance last night against the Oklahoma City Thunder, in what amounted to a big elimination game victory for the Mavericks, Luka dropped a 29-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in which he shot 60% from the field, 66.7% from distance, and exorcised his free throw line demons from game four by going a perfect 7-7 from the line. With that performance, Luka continued what has been some of the most impressive postseason play that we’ve ever seen. As it stands, his 34.1 points per game in elimination games over his career is the highest average in NBA history.

  Now, it does need to be qualified that Luka has only appeared in seven such games, though if you’ve watched his entire body of playoff work, there is little to indicate that this is a reflection of small sample size. Rather, this dude is just a killer when it’s on the line. Last night, down the stretch, Luka hit several big shots (the fade over Dort was just an apex predator executing his prey), competed on both ends (please do this more often), and channeled that competitive rage that too often spews over into his interaction with officials, into doing everything he could to take OKC’s heart out. The all-time greats play big in big moments, and that’s what Luka has done time and again. (click to expand graphic; make sure to click “load all images”)

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IF YOU HAVE THE TIME…

Over the last few years, we have been privileged to see a bevy of our sports heroes continue to play at a high level that belies their age. In the NBA alone, we have witnessed Steph, KD, LeBron, and others, who haven’t quite beaten Father Time—because no one does—but they sure have put that temporal asshole on his heels. While what those players have been doing is incredibly impressive, what Diana Taurasi is in the midst of is outright inexplicable. Now in her 20^th season, all spent in Phoenix, Taurasi continues to be a force on the floor for the Mercury. But before we get to that, let’s just take a look at her resume. Make sure you get a bathroom break because this is going to take a minute: