Another game, another double-double for Angel Reese. After sitting out 1 game due to a lower-leg injury, Reese returned to score a game-high 23 points and 13 rebounds, and set the season record with her 16th double-double. However, it wasn’t just the stats that showed, but the mindset and kind of plays she was attempting that caught longtime WNBA journalist Robin Lundberg’s attention.
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“Angel Reese is becoming more and more dynamic with the ball in the open floor going downhill,” Lundberg wrote on his X page, reacting to a video highlight of her plays.
The fact that Reese was out there to win after the Dream lost their last game without her was evident from the first half. However, besides her high-scoring game, Angel Reese came in clutch when her team needed it the most.
With less than five minutes remaining in the game and the teams tied at 87-87, the 24-year-old scored a rare 3-pointer to give her team the lead, making the score 90-87. After that, the Dream didn’t look back, pulling away to win 101-92.
To put that into perspective, the league leader in double-doubles is currently facing a career-low 3-pointer success rate at just 13.6 so far. It didn’t come as a surprise when Dream Coach Karl Smesko celebrated Angel Reese’s growth in shooting after she gave her team the lead at a crucial point in the game.
Karl Smesko‘s system places great emphasis on three-point shooting. And Angel Reese, not historically known for her perimeter game, has been putting in the work to adapt. Earlier this season, Smesko acknowledged that the improvement had been showing up in practice.
“She’s definitely been working on it since training camp. She’s improved a great deal,” Smesko said in the postgame interview.
“At least it looked like a really good release on that one. And to do it with whatever it was, a tie game late in the fourth quarter. To be the one that you really get the thing that you’ve been working on for months to help you win a game. I mean, that was definitely a fun moment for everybody.”
While Angel Reese has certainly had areas where she’s struggled this season, after scoring her 16th double-double with so much time left in the season, it may be safe to say there’s a lot to expect.