Angel Reese may be one of the biggest stars in the WNBA, but she certainly isn’t playing like a star, as she had her worst game yet on Sunday afternoon, capping a disappointing start to the season.
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During the offseason, the Atlanta Dream landed Reese via trade with the Chicago Sky, sending two first-round picks to Chicago in exchange for the league’s top rebounder. While the team clearly had high expectations for the star forward, his time with the Dream has had a rocky start.
Reese’s struggles began during the preseason when she was not scoring with efficiency and it looked like there were some issues with her shooting form. Reese bounced back a bit in the first two games of the season, where he posted back-to-back double-doubles to start the season, alleviating some concerns. However, Sunday’s game was his worst performance so far this season, and he ultimately had to be ruled out as the team bounced back without him.
Worst game of his career?
Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Aces did not go well for Reese. After expressing confidence in the game and calling himself a “great player”, Reese played arguably the worst game of his entire career.
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In 29 minutes of action, Reese averaged just nine points and eight rebounds, shot just 1 of 8 from the field, while turning the ball over eight times as a forward who doesn’t spend much time handling the ball. While Reese scored nine points in the game, seven of them came from the free-throw line.
There is only one game in Reese’s career that would have been worse than this performance. During a game against the New York Liberty the previous May, Reese went 0 of 8 from the field with only two free throws. However, even in that game, she managed to grab 12 rebounds and only turned the ball over four times.
After an eight-turnover performance, Reese now leads the league in turnovers.
Angel Reese was benched during the game
With Reese struggling to make shots and consistently turn the ball over, the Dream ultimately opted to bench him down the stretch, and the move nearly resulted in a comeback.
With Reese on the bench, Atlanta overcame a 19-point deficit with less than a minute left in the game before Chelsea Gray hit a two-point pull-up shot with just 3 seconds remaining to win the game for the Aces.
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Reese played only 29 minutes in the game, his lowest total of the season so far.
Fans offer criticism
Reese’s struggles immediately drew harsh criticism from fans, who took to social media with their reactions.
One fan wrote in a post on
Someone else said, “She may be fired at some point if she doesn’t start taking recovery seriously.”
“If you keep saying Reese needs to work on layups, you don’t know ball. There’s no such thing as a grown man working on layups. It’s a lifetime of instincts, balance and touch. He’s a glorified bench player. A bull in a china shop,” another fan commented.
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One fan bluntly said, “She’s not a good player, man.”
“I said this when her senior season at LSU ended; her rebounding and her motor will translate but her offensive game will need major work. In 3 years, I think no matter how much work, it will never happen. She just needs to become an energy and toughness type of player,” someone else wrote.
One fan said, “I’m not trying to pay too much attention to Angel personally, but as a fan today’s game was disappointing. I know she’s giving herself more trouble than us, but I hope she figures it out soon. We’re looking for her.”
“She makes basketball a lot harder,” someone else said.
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Clearly, this was not the performance Reese expected against the reigning league MVP in A’ja Wilson.
The post ‘She’s not a good player’: Angel Reese quietly bows out as criticism mounts appeared first on The Comeback: Today’s Top Sports Stories & Reactions.
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