Angel Reese has struggled immensely in Games 4 and 5 of the WNBA finals, shooting a combined 4-for-20 from the field in the losses that have put her Dream team on the verge of WNBA Finals elimination.
After her historic 30-point, 16-rebound game that had the masses singing her praises and predicting her as Finals MVP after just three games, Reese’s mojo has disappeared and her team hasn’t been able to generate any offense.
The three-time All-Star blamed what she felt was a blatant change in how she’s being refereed.
“I would definitely say last game, for sure. There was also a possession where Gabby [Williams] pulled me on purpose, and she was screaming, ‘foul, foul, foul,’ and they didn’t call it. So that definitely was frustrating for sure. And her team is saying it, and they’re all screaming foul, but the refs – I don’t know what’s going on – why they can’t hear it?” Reese said.
“I know I have the mismatch, so when I do switch on the post and I’m a lot stronger than the opponent I should be able to turn and they are calling an offensive foul, and I was getting pushed before that,” she explained.
Reese and head coach Karl Smesko both voiced significant frustration with what they perceived as uncalled physical contact and a sudden shift in how the series was being refereed after Atlanta took a 2–1 lead.
The “Speakeasy” podcast crew featuring Emmanuel Acho addressed Reese’s performance after she shot just 2-for-8 from the field in Game 5.
“You come out with a protect Black woman shirt…Let me give my take how I would give my take if it was an NBA player,” Acho cautiously asked his co-hosts, who gave him the go-ahead to be honest and hurt feelings if necessary.
“Angel you can’t call for attention and hang up. And your game called for attention. Because your team had won seven out of eight consecutive playoff games. Angel, you can’t call for attention and hang up. First three games of the WNBA finals you were averaging 21 points and 14 boards. Your game called for attention,” Acho said, while mimicking himself on the phone.
“But you can’t call for attention,” he continued. “And hang up because the last two games, gotta-have-’em games … you’ve had more turnovers than made field goals. The Dream live and die by Angel Reese. They were living sitting on the throne. Yet these last two games , they’re gasping for oxygen because Angel hasn’t shown up.”
“You’re shooting 20 percent from the field in the finals the last two games? The whole world is now watching Angel Reese and as I said just three days ago, Angel has given us nothing to be critical of. … But now she’s one game away from elimination. You can’t hang up now. You have to deliver,” Acho demanded.
Then Acho went on to reminisce about some legendary NBA bigs like Hakeem Olajuwon and Giannis Antentokuompo who showed up in critical games in the NBA Finals. Career-defining games, and suggested that NBA fans would have destroyed them for producing as little as Reese has in the past two games.
“You’re not the Rudy Gobert of the NBA. At least we no longer believe you to be. With everybody talking about you, don’t give them anything negative to say. The play has been objectively atrocious. You can’t go back to the A and lose there. You gotta find a way to get it done,” Acho explained.
Reese wanted the spotlight, the respect and equal footing to Caitlin Clark and other greats of the game. It’s her time to either sink or swim. The refs won’t help her, and Acho shows that any belief in her game is day-to-day at this point. Who would have thought Reese’s moment of truth would come so early in her WNBA career?
