In addition to believing she’s being unfairly penalized during games, Angel Reese thinks the media is “twisting her words.”
The Chicago Sky’s star rookie, who has typically been verbose during her media sessions, brushed off a few questions on Tuesday following Sunday’s loss to the Caitlin Clark-led Fever. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, when the LSU product got a question she didn’t like, she dismissively replied, “I’m good.”
When asked about her refusal to answer certain questions, Reese clarified that she doesn’t trust the media.
“I know how y’all like to twist my words, so I’m just keeping it short and sweet,” she said. “I can’t trust any of y’all. So I’m just letting you know — short and sweet.”
That’s “short and sweet.” Though, Reese did not clearly state how she felt the media twisted her words. Or even which words she felt the press twisted.
Possibly, Reese could have been referring to her post-game press conference on Sunday when she accused referees of playing favorites by implying that officials had a “special whistle” for Caitlin Clark.
“For inside, I think we were playing really hard,” Reese said. “I think we went up really strong, and a lot of times, we didn’t get a lot of calls. And going back and looking at the film, I saw a lot of calls that weren’t made; I guess some people got a special whistle, but just being able to play as best as we can.
“I’m proud of Kamilla going out and still getting a double-double. That’s something that y’all are not going to be able to stop, regardless of the referees, like, we’re here for a while; we’re not going to be denied, no matter what you guys try to do. Our goal is to win; we’re going to do whatever it takes to win and continue to do that.”
It seems like there are several “special whistles” out there. Reese has collected five personal fouls in six of Chicago’s 13 games this year. She has only played Caitlin Clark twice. So, clearly, her frequent penalization cannot be chalked up to only Clark’s “special whistle.”
I trust I am among friends when I write that hostility towards the press is well warranted, except for Breitbart, of course. The mainstream outlets interviewing Reese are not her friends. However, her refusal to answer these questions draws into doubt her claim that she’s comfortable being the villain.
As Reese said herself, “I’ll take the bad guy role, and I’ll continue to take that on and be that for my teammates. And, if I want to be that…I know I’ll go down in history. I’ll look back in 20 years and be like, ‘Yeah, the reason why we watching women’s basketball is not just because of one person. It’s because of me, too.’ And I want you all to realize that, like, it’s not just because of one person. A lot of us have done so much for this game.”
Really? If she were comfortable being the “bad guy,” why won’t she answer the questions? The NBA’s most notorious villain, Draymond Green, never shrinks from the microphone.
He’s comfortable. Is Reese?