Breanna Stewart and Angel Reese have been the hottest players since the FIBA World Cup break. On Monday, when the New York Liberty and the Atlanta Dream met for the second time this season, both stars showed up for their teams with elite performances, which also included Stewart’s heated moment with the referee during crunch time. The Liberty star was assessed a technical, but she sent the bill to Reese instead.
“Angel should pay my fine,” Stewart said, per Myles Ehrlich, the Liberty beat writer.
According to Ehrlich, ESPN’s Alexa Philippou later asked the reigning World Cup MVP if she had asked Reese to pay her fine.
“Yes,” Stewart replied.
With just less than two minutes remaining in the game, the Dream led by 88-80 and the Liberty were trying to make a comeback. During the Liberty’s possession, Stewart beat DeWanna Bonner at the top of the key and went for a mid-range jumper over Reese. As Stewart rose for the shot, Reese stripped and stole the ball from her hands.
The referee didn’t call a foul. The Liberty star then tried to defend Reese, and she was called for a foul. Stewart clearly seemed frustrated with the no-call and crashed out at the official, resulting in her first technical in almost a decade. After the game, she said that Reese had committed a foul on the play.
“That absolutely was [because of] the no-call. She slapped s— out of my hand. Baseline ref, you got to see that,” Stewart said in postgame presser.
This was Stewart’s first technical foul since 2017. Also, it was Stewart’s third technical of her WNBA career. However, her teammate Sabrina Ionescu didn’t agree with the call, especially because Stewart’s reaction didn’t warrant a nine-year-old record being broken. According to Ionescu, the incident didn’t have the drama.
“If I wanted to see Stewie get a tech for the first time since 2017, I would have wanted something a little bit more animated than that because I think there’s a lot of players in the league that do that nightly and don’t get techs,” Ionescu said.
“So I was a little underwhelmed with the tech. If it was a stat like that, I would have wanted to see something crazy.”
Does that mean that Stewart doesn’t get in referees’ faces for a call? Definitely not. Stewart is a “soft-spoken killer” and gets her message across. Ionescu added that her veteran teammate had mastered the skill to get her message across without being too animated or yelling at the referees.
Both Reese and Stewart played excellent basketball on both ends of the floor. Stewart led the Liberty with 27 points while shooting 11-of-19 from the field. She also added 14 rebounds and 4 assists in 37 minutes. On the other hand, Angel Reese recorded 18 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block. The Dream’s roster showed its depth in the 11-point win.
Jordin Canada led her team with team-highs of 19 points and 9 assists. She was equally effective on defense, leading her team with 3 steals. Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray added 16 and 14 points, respectively. DeWanna Bonner added 17 points off the bench.
Reese and Stewart will meet again on Wednesday at Barclays Center. It will be the last game of the regular season for both teams, with big implications for the playoffs. If the Dream win Wednesday’s matchup, they will seal a home-court advantage in the first-round series. If they lose and the Indiana Fever win both of their contests against the Minnesota Lynx, the Dream will slide down to the 5th seed.
With the 95-84 loss on Monday, the Liberty have slid to 8th position. If the playoffs started today, they would have to face the Minnesota Lynx in the first round. A win against Atlanta on Wednesday will give them a chance to move up in the final seeding.