For Angel Reese, the Phoenix Mercury game was an ideal night in terms of her box score numbers. The ChiBarbie recorded a double-double, guiding Atlanta to a second-straight win in a highly intense and physical game. Despite this performance, it was Reese’s flagrant foul in the game that drew more attention, forcing the Atlanta forward to double down on it immediately.

The moment unfolded in the initial minutes of the fourth quarter. It was a free-throw sequence where Allisha Gray failed to convert from the line for Atlanta. Reese, in turn, tried to grab the rebound but got into a tussle with Mercury’s Kyra Linskens instead and eventually failed to get the ball. The Atlanta forward seemingly hit Linskens on the neck and face with her shoulder, knocking her to the ground.

The officials initially called a regular foul on Reese before upgrading it to a flagrant 1. But even on the receiving end of a flagrant 1, ChiBarbie didn’t hesitate to keep the moment light-hearted. After the call, Reese went to Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas and, remarked that she learned this move from her. “I learned that from you,” Reese was heard saying, per B/R W Sports.

Reese’s comment to Thomas wasn’t random. Instead, it was a subtle dig at Thomas for a similar foul that she inflicted on Reese two years back. It stems back to Reese’s rookie season with the Chicago Sky, when they faced the Connecticut Sun.

In a similar offensive play, Reese was trying to grab a rebound of a missed layup by one of her teammates. But Thomas came in front of Reese while trying to defend her rim, sticking her hand to the latter’s neck and pushing her to the ground. Alyssa Thomas was handed a flagrant 2 and was ejected from the game after the sequence.

For Reese, it wasn’t a moment of resentment, though. She felt that Thomas’ foul gave her a statement that players won’t hesitate to go at her just because she’s a rookie. “I mean, I want them to come at me every day,” Reese said at that time, per ESPN. “I want them to come at everybody, I mean, they’re not supposed to be nice to me, and I hope y’all know that.”

So, fast forward two seasons later, when Reese was on the receiving end of the foul against Thomas’ team, she didn’t hesitate to pinpoint the physicality she derived from the latter during her rookie season. It was kind of a jolly moment amid a back-and-forth game.

But Reese, unlike Thomas, did play the rest of the game, helping her team to bail out against Phoenix. The game in itself was a fouling contest. A total of 35 fouls were called in the game. Reese ended her night with four fouls, which is the same number as teammate Jordin Canada. Besides her fourth, a fifth was called against her in the fourth quarter. But it was overturned after a challenge.

Rhyne Howard also accumulated three, with all of them coming in the first quarter. Yet despite these foul troubles, the Atlanta Dream pulled off a late fourth-quarter comeback. Reese and the Dream entered the fourth quarter down by 8 points.

But they rallied behind Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray, and Angel Reese, outscoring Phoenix 33-23 to clinch a narrow 2-point win. Reese contributed seven points and two assists in the final quarter, finishing the night with a double-double: 17 points, scoring 6 of 16 from the field, and 10 rebounds.

Howard led the night for Atlanta with 21 points, while Gray chimed in with 18. Yet despite this victory, the officiating issue remains a topic of debate throughout the season.

Angel Reese Comes Clean on the Game’s Officiating Rigidity

Consistent foul calls seem to be the trademark of this season’s WNBA officiating. On the surface, it might diminish the extent of physicality. But it also leaves the players on a thin line during the game. For Reese, though, she feels her team generally didn’t do well at limiting the game’s physicality in the Phoenix game.

“We practice a lot on controlling our emotions. I would probably give us a ‘C’ today. We didn’t do a great job. We could have crashed out a little bit more,” Reese said in the post-game presser. “We’re just continuing to try to control what we can control. We emphasize a lot on that.”

Due to the consistent fouls, free throws also had a profound impact on the game. Atlanta Dream sent Mercury to the line 19 times in the game. Phoenix, in turn, converted 18 of them for 92%. Against it, Atlanta went 11 of 21 from the line. It’s something Angel Reese and the team will have to figure out as the season moves forward.

Missing out on 10 free throw points in tightrope games like these can be immensely haunting for any team. Angel Reese, who herself failed to convert five of them from the line, will also have to emphasize this aspect of her game.

Reese, meanwhile, also achieved an impressive career feat in the game. Through her 17 points and 10 rebounds, Reese now has over 950 points and 850 rebounds in her WNBA career.

The Atlanta Dream, continues its winning spree with this game. The team is now 4-1 in the season, leading the Eastern Conference division. Their next game is against the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday at the Target Center.