Angel Reese started her career with the Chicago Sky, and in one of the more surprising trades of the offseason, was sent to the Atlanta Dream.
Through her first two games, her performances have been, well, a mixed bag. Her Dream debut against the Minnesota Lynx was a microcosm of her time in the WNBA. She had 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting, 14 rebounds, three blocks, but five turnovers and five personal fouls.
She improved a bit in game two, going 4-of-8 from the floor, and pulling down 16 rebounds in a 77-72 win over the Dallas Wings. But Sunday marked her home debut with Atlanta, with the Dream announcing a sellout at the State Farm Arena.
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Hotly anticipated, Reese got a big welcome to her new city.
She played into it, showing up in a leather outfit that one media outlet described as channeling “Catwoman energy.” Then, when asked pregame about her matchup with A’ja Wilson, she said “She’s obviously a great player…but I know I’m a great player too.”
ANGEL REESE EMBRACES VILLAIN ROLE IN DALLAS, FLEXING AND TAUNTING FANS IN ATLANTA DREAM’S WIN OVER WINGS
And that was pretty much the entire highlight of the game for the 24-year-old. Reese hit one of eight field-goal attempts a missed her lone three-point shot. She had as many turnovers as she did rebounds, with eight apiece. One shot made from the field, eight turnovers.
In fact, in one of her several trademark missed layups, she lost a shoe.
Six missed layups on the day, eight turnovers…hard to have a worse day than that.
No wonder, then, that her +/- rating on the day was -13, meaning the Las Vegas Aces outscored the Dream by 13 points with Reese on the court. This season, Reese’s new team has been outscored by 15 points when she’s on the court.
And incredibly, she was such a liability that Atlanta head coach Karl Smesko effectively benched her with the Dream down by double digits. They immediately staged a comeback that came up just short in an 85-84 loss to the Aces.
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All told in her first three games with Atlanta, Reese is 9-27 shooting, 0-2 from three, has committed 16 turnovers and 11 fouls. To go along with that -15 +/- rating. Though she has pulled in 38 rebounds, five blocks, and has been relatively efficient from the free throw line at 14-18.
Reese and the Dream stay home for the rest of the week, hosting the Dallas Wings for a rematch back at Gateway Center Arena on Friday night.
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