Friday’s game against the Portland Fire brought mixed outcomes for Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese. The 24-year-old achieved a significant milestone with 16 points, 16 rebounds, six assists, and two steals, making her the fastest player in WNBA history to reach at least 1,500 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 250 assists in her career. Her performance included a remarkable double-double, setting WNBA history.
“Angel Reese recorded her 28th double-double of the season on Friday night, tying her for the most in a single WNBA season with five more games to play,” noted ESPN Insights. “Reese now has two of the three highest double-double totals all-time in a single WNBA season.”
Despite her achievements, Reese faced a setback during the game. In the fourth quarter, she received her eighth technical foul of the season, leading to an automatic one-game suspension. Reese is set to miss Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Lynx unless the technical is overturned by the league.
With 8:45 remaining in the game, Reese got involved in an incident with Fire guard Carla Leite. Video footage showed Reese pushing Leite from behind as Dream guard Rhyne Howard scored a corner three-pointer. Reese then pushed Leite again as they separated.
Dream head coach Karl Smesko expressed the intention to appeal the technical foul. I’m sure we’ll appeal it,
Smesko said after the game. From my vantage point, it didn’t look like something warranting a technical. Hopefully, it’ll be rescinded, although I haven’t reviewed the footage yet.
Smesko mentioned he had no issue with Reese’s actions since he didn’t believe it deserved a technical. We’ll probably have a conversation with Reese, but she’s been really disciplined this season,
he added. She went a long time without getting a technical and never deserved one. So, she was doing well. What I saw didn’t seem technical ― maybe a foul. But I haven’t looked at the footage yet. Hopefully, this gets rescinded, and we’ll have Angel available for the Minnesota game.