Angel Reese might not have had the most productive Game 7, but one prominent voice’s take on her sparked immediate pushback. Reese grabbed 12 rebounds in Game 7 of the WNBA Finals, but she had a subpar scoring night, scoring just eight points and taking no shots in the fourth quarter. The Atlanta Dream lost 68-63, and the night ended in heartbreak. Soon after, former ESPN host and The Athletic writer Jemele Hill shared her thoughts on Reese’s performance. But her opinion didn’t sit well with everyone, and the backlash followed soon after.

After receiving several comments questioning her stance, Jemele Hill was forced to take down the Threads post. An icon under the post now reads ‘Post not available’ after Reese fans swarmed the comment section defending the 2026 Defensive Player of the Year. The now-unavailable post was a scathing critique of Reese’s production in Game 7 against the Golden State Valkyries, which saw Gabby Williams and Co. clinch their first championship.

“So what word would you use to describe having 8 points in 33 minutes? I’m open to suggestions. Respectfully, some of y’all have to stop being so sensitive,” Hill had written on Threads. “Angel Reese is a great player playing in her first W playoffs. She came within a game of winning a title after a phenomenal season. But a lot of great players experience what she just did in Game 7. She had a bad game based on the standard she has set. It’s ok to say that.”

Fans were quick to react, with many Reese supporters feeling Hill was being unfair. Some even pointed out that she had not made similar comments about Caitlin Clark, the Indiana Fever star whose fans have clashed with Reese’s supporters online for years.

They argued that every player has bad games and that struggling in a big moment should not make someone immune to criticism. One fan even compared Reese’s experience to Victor Wembanyama’s first playoff run, pointing out that he had faced similar online ridicule. They added that it was simply part of sports, where the public often makes fun of players who fall short in big moments. 

But this was not the first time Hill had weighed in on Reese’s Game 7 performance. Right after the game, she had called the forward’s performance “subpar” for a Finals Game 7. She also credited the Valkyries’ center Kiah Stokes for her defensive effort. 

At the same time, Hill acknowledged that Reese had “taken a major step this season” and said the loss would stay with her all offseason. Some fans were surprised by the assessment, and one even called it a “backhanded” compliment.

The reaction was particularly interesting because Hill had been backing Reese for months. On Oct. 9, after the Dream swept the Liberty to reach the Finals, she wrote on X that a lot of people owed Reese an “apology.” She said Reese’s Defensive Player of the Year award alone was worth one. 

She also argued that no one could look at how Reese lifted the team and say otherwise.

Still, the numbers offer a little more context to the debate. Reese set a Finals record with 90 rebounds and averaged 14.7 points and 12.6 rebounds in the series. She also had 30 points and 16 rebounds in Game 2. But her production looked very different depending on the result. She scored eight points or fewer in three of Atlanta’s four losses.

In the Dream’s three wins, Reese averaged 22 points. In the four losses, that number dropped to 9.3 points, and she shot 12-for-38.

And Game 7 followed that pattern. Reese made 3-of-7 shots and 1-of-3 free throws while committing four turnovers. Atlanta had also gone 16-0 when she hit a three-pointer. She made one early in the second quarter, but the streak came to an end Saturday. After that, she scored just three points in the final 29 minutes.

Reese, however, was not letting one difficult night overshadow everything she had accomplished. She kept things in perspective after the loss. “I’m really proud of the year I had,” she said. She added, “We’ll be back.”

While Hill’s post is gone, the Game 7 numbers are not, and neither is the debate over them.