Angel Reese just led the Atlanta Dream to the WNBA Finals, and Jemele Hill wants the people who doubted her to say something. “Let the apologies be as loud as the disrespect,” Hill posted on X. “Whole ‘lotta people owe Angel Reese an apology.”
Hill’s post came after Reese scored a team-high 22 points with 9 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and 2 blocks in Atlanta’s 85-83 Game 3 win in New York, finishing a sweep of the Liberty. As ClutchPoints noted, the Dream did it without leading scorer Allisha Gray, who missed Games 2 and 3 with an injury.
The IAHHM Take: Let Her Cook
Few athletes in any sport have been picked apart like Reese. The criticism has been nonstop since her LSU days: her shooting efficiency, her rebounds off her own misses, and the idea that her fame got ahead of her game. Some of that was basketball talk. A lot of it wasn’t.
Now she’s four wins from a title, playing bigger on defense with Gray out and taking the scoring load when it mattered. That’s a real answer.
What hit hardest, though, was what she said after the game. Reese gave her mom the credit, per comments shared by ClutchPoints via ESPN, describing a single mother who raised her and her brother “kinda by herself.” Reese said, “I can pick up the phone at three o’clock in the morning, call her crying, and she’s just been there for me.”
That’s the part the timeline misses. The confidence people love to hate comes from somewhere, and it’s been built under a lot of pressure.
Atlanta meets Golden State in the Finals starting October 17. Get the full schedule in our Valkyries vs. Dream Finals preview.
Do Reese’s critics owe her an apology, or does she have to win the ring first? Tell us.
Source: ClutchPoints
