Physicality is the name of the game this season. Just almost a month in, and we’ve already seen rookie-vet showdowns, techs flying, and hair-pulling twice now. The league’s been catching flak for being “too physical,” but if you’ve watched the W for more than five minutes, you know this game’s always been built on toughness. And well, Angel Reese is right at the center of the latest incident.

Let’s rewind for a sec. Not too long ago, in a Dallas vs. LA Sparks matchup, fans were already fired up over an eyebrow-raising moment. During the third quarter, Carrington committed a rough foul that had everyone talking as she yanked rookie Ashlee Barker down by her hair. That clip went viral for a reason. And now, it’s round two.

During the Sky’s win over the Connecticut Sun in the third quarter. Reese was going up for a rebound when Sun guard Bria Hartley got all up in her space. Reese didn’t like the way Hartley played her. Olivia Nelson-Ododa tried to step in and defuse the situation, but Reese shoved her back. To make it worse, another angle showed Hartley grabbing Reese’s hair as she went up. Not subtle, not accidental-looking either. Reese turned, fists up for a split second, clearly fuming, but pulled it back fast. And then came Sun vet Tina Charles, who wasn’t gonna sit quiet. 

She had words for Reese, and the cameras caught the Sky forward yelling back, “Say something! Say something!” as refs reviewed the whole scene for potential flagrants. Now, to be fair, Hartley did seem to realize what happened. She mouthed, “I didn’t mean to,” as the replay showed the tug in slow-mo. Meanwhile, Reese pointed to her hair, clearly trying to explain to Charles what went down. Finally, Hartley got hit with a loose-ball foul, and both Reese and Charles got hit with offsetting techs.

But after the game, Angel didn’t fan the flames; she cooled them. When asked about the moment with Charles, she kept it real, “Obviously, the little scuffle that we had, obviously she had to stick up for her teammate. But she was like ‘You know I got to do that. I got to do that for my teammate.’ I was like ‘You know that s–t not personal,'” Reese said.

Then she went full class act, “I love a vet like you, I love a player like you. Obviously, I respect your game, you have done a lot of great things for this game… So it’s great having a vet that really wants to talk to you and make sure you get better, because obviously when she leaves this game, she wants to leave it in the right way.” That right there, that’s what makes this league special. Yes, tempers flare. Yes, emotions run high. But when it’s over, there’s almost always a sense of mutual respect unless it’s something completely wild.

This isn’t even the first time we’ve seen stuff like this. Remember last July when A’ja Wilson took a shot to the face from Nneka Ogwumike and was left gushing blood? Wilson later said she’d never seen so much of her own blood, still, she didn’t blow up. Just took it and kept hooping. Even Caitlin Clark, who was knocked around by vets since her debut, never made a scene. She got up, adjusted, and came back stronger this year. That’s just what this league is. Fast, physical, and full of pride.

Moments like these definitely put the involved players in a tough light. No one wants to be caught pulling hair or shouting on camera. But it’s heat-of-the-moment stuff. It happens. For now, despite all the chaos, Angel and the Sky still walked away with the win.

Angel Reese pulled the strings, and the Sky pulled off the win

Angel Reese might’ve had her hair pulled, but she definitely had the last laugh. Just when things got testy in the third, Angel didn’t just clap back with words. She responded with a triple-double. Yes, her very first in the W. And it came in a game that saw Chicago walk away with a solid 78-66 dub over Connecticut.

Now, to be fair, there was a 14-second hiccup after the scuffle where Reese had a bit of a rough patch – a turnover, a personal foul, then a shooting foul that gave 8x All-Star a trip to the line. But that didn’t shake her one bit. Heading into the fourth, Reese was already flirting with history: 9 points, 10 boards, 7 dimes, 3 steals, and a block. 

She eventually closed it with 11-13-11, becoming just the second rookie in Sky history to notch a triple-double. She didn’t do it alone, as Hailey Van Lith came off the bench and cooked with a career-high 16 points. Chicago’s bench as a whole outscored Connecticut’s reserves 36-2. One of the game’s biggest highlights was late in the third when Reese bullied her way to the rim through contact, sank the and-one, and followed it up with a heat-check 25-foot three (which she missed, but love the confidence).

So the hair pull might’ve made headlines, but we need to appreciate that Reese’s game was the real story. Next up, the Sky head to D.C. on Tuesday to face the Mystics. Let’s see what happens!