news-engine

On Monday night, Atlanta Dream star Angel Reese had a historic performance on the glass, hauling in a WNBA record 26 rebounds. However, that wasn’t enough for her to escape criticism for the rest of her game. Despite the record-breaking performance on the boards, the social media world clamored for things to criticize about Reese’s performance, highlighting her inefficient shooting, her shots that were blocked, and even her reaction to a foul call, all while she put together another absolutely dominant performance. Reese Dominates Again In the 78-71 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Monday night, Reese was absolutely dominant on the boards, pulling in a WNBA record 26 rebounds as she continues to make the argument that she is the greatest rebounder of all time. While Reese has often been criticized for boosting her rebounding stats with her “me-bounds,” where she rebounds her own misses, that was not the case during her record-breaking performance on Monday. Of Reese’s WNBA record 26 rebounds, 18 were defensvie rebounds – another WNBA record. This record-breaking performance continues a streak of dominance for Reese. On Thursday night, Reese nearly had a triple-double in a 124-88 win over the Los Angeles Sparks with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists, going a perfect 9-for-9 from the field. Reese followed that up with an even more dominant performance on Saturday night as she had a career-high 31 points with 14 rebounds to help lead her team to a 99-89 victory over the Phoenix Mercury. On Monday, she capped off the road trip with a WNBA record. Reese Still Gets Criticized It was a historic performance, and Reese received plenty of praise for it, but as is usually the case for Reese, she received a strong bit of criticism, as well. “Angel Reese finished with 11 points and a WNBA record 26 rebounds, including eight offensive boards. A tremendous rebounding effort, but context matters. Los Angeles entered the game 13 and 23 and has only one bona fide big in Cameron Brink. The Sparks are extremely vulnerable in the frontcourt. Reese also had to goal hang for her final basket to reach 11 points and secure the double double. And if officials consistently called her lowered shoulder, pushes and elbows, I am not convinced she would make it past halftime. A remarkable rebounder. A very difficult player to respect,” wrote writer Ron Gilbert. “Angel Reese WENT OFF tonight. 11 points 4-14 field goals 3 turnovers. She got blocked FIVE TIMES by Cameron Brink,” mocked House of Lowlights, a prominent sports parody account. “What I’ve learned after watching about five Angel Reese games: More than 1/3rd of her rebounds are her own misses of what should be easy layups or bank shots. This chick likes to throw around elbows. A lot. Rarely called. And she’s perfected the art of the fast shove in the back, which plays a vital role in her positioning herself in the rebound game,” wrote political commentator Brian Cates. “Angel Reese COOKED Cameron Brink,” mocked BrickCenter, a prominent sports parody account, sharing a clip of Brink blocking Reese twice in one possession. “Another foul call, another Angel Reese reaction,” wrote right-wing sports blog OutKick in a post on X, the only clip they shared from the game. At this point, Reese has become such a polarizing figure in sports that the discourse and opinions about her game are rarely grounded in actual basketball.