angel reese dominated the glass against the las vegas aces on sunday in a losing effort that subjected the chicago sky rookie to renewed criticism over her offensive game.
sure, reese piled up 22 rebounds against mvp candidate a’ja wilson and the aces before wilson hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer to deliver las vegas a 77-75 win. but even after achieving a rookie record with her third consecutive 20-rebound game — and setting a new mark for rookie double-doubles in the wnba — reese’s shooting woes continue to color analysis of her game and mute somewhat her overall impact on the hardwood.
Reese chooses the high road and stays focused
Reese on Sunday scored 11 points to go with her 22 boards, but she needed 16 shot attempts to score those 11 points and made only four field goals on the afternoon. That lackluster efficiency brought Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy out of the woodwork, and Portnoy wasted little time sarcastically criticizing Reese’s offensive ability on X/Twitter.
Portnoy’s brand of rude and lightly-misogynistic sports analysis has proven popular within certain sectors of sports fandom — and it has made him extremely wealthy, with an estimated net worth of $150 million. Portnoy has long detested Reese and her style of play, much preferring Caitlin Clark’s uptempo style and shooting ability — and he has done what he can to lift up the Indiana Fever rookie at the expense of tearing down Reese to an audience of 3.2 million X/Twitter followers.
But Reese is not the type of player or person to let Portnoy’s criticism impact her ultimate goal of achieving WNBA superstardom. Portnoy’s posts won’t take away Reese’s 22-rebound game — even if it laid bare her shooting deficiencies — and she later said on X/Twitter that if playing pro ball was easy, “everybody would be doing it.”
Following their close loss to the two-time defending champion Aces, the Sky’s next challenge will be against the lowly Washington Mystics on Wednesday night, in a game that is important for Chicago’s teetering playofff chances.