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If there’s one player who has truly turned her season around, it’s Angel Reese. From being trolled for her efficiency to getting clowned for rebounding her own misses, she’s been through it all. But as she said during her rookie season, “But I live by the quote, ‘Everyday the sun won’t shine, but that’s why I love tomorrow.'” And judging by the way she’s bounced back, she clearly still lives by that.

Going up against any team coached by Cheryl Reeve is tough. The Lynx boast the best defense in the league, but that didn’t slow down Angel Reese one bit. She finished the game with 22 points on 9-14 shooting while also managing to get 10 rebounds. On top of that, all 10 of her rebounds were defensive rebounds and not ‘mebounds’

But at this point, performances like these have become the norm. Just another day at the office for Reese! While injuries to Ariel Atkins and Michaela Onyewere meant that the Sky weren’t able to pull off their second upset in back-to-back games, fans were mighty pleased with Reese’s performance and her efficiency as a whole.

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Journalist Karli Bell didn’t waste any time highlighting just how impressive Angel Reese’s turnaround has been this season. She’s gone from shooting just 37.5% in the restricted area to an eye-popping 56.5%. All of this just goes to show that when you’re a true superstar, you always find a way to bounce back, no matter how tough the fall.

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To put Karli Bell’s tweet into even clearer perspective, let’s rewind to Angel Reese’s first six games of the season. Out of her 61 field goal attempts, 44 came from the restricted area. Any guesses what her efficiency was back then? Just 31.8% according to CBS Sports. Despite leading the league with 7.3 shot attempts per game in that zone, her efficiency was the lowest among the top 10 players taking at least five shots there. That’s how rough things were for Reese at the start of the season. She became an easy target for trolls and critics online. But credit to Reese, she has completely turned it around!

Social media lit up with reactions from all over the world, praising Angel Reese for her incredible performance. It’s not every day the community comes together like this! But of course, a few couldn’t resist pointing out some flaws, too. So, let’s dive in and check out what the fans had to say!

What’s your perspective on:

From trolls to triumph: Has Angel Reese silenced her critics for good?

Have an interesting take?

Fans react to Angel Reese’s rise in efficiency

“She been so tuff lately #proud 😂,” one fan said while another joined in to say, “I’m shaking this is her league.” And honestly, they’re not wrong. According to Real Sports, Angel Reese ranks top 5 in the entire WNBA this month in both points and rebounds per game. She’s also recorded nine consecutive double-doubles, the longest active streak in the league, and more than anyone else in the league. This is starting to feel like her league!

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“All the people who were saying Angel Reese is bad look so stupid right now,” said another fan. Angel, in her last 8 game,s is averaging 19.1 points, 14.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.1 steals. And the best part? She is shooting 52.7% from the field. That’s a huge improvement from the 39.1% she was shooting last year. Another fan joined in to say, “Old enough to remember when y’all swore up and down Angel Reese was bad at basketball.”

A lot of the credit actually goes to Lisa Leslie for this. By now, everyone knows that Reese and Leslie worked out together during the off-season. “The biggest advice I have for you is gonna be how you shoot your layups. Period. Like, we’re gonna fix that,” Leslie told Rees in February. “That’s fixable for you.” And turns out the advice from the WNBA legend did work out!

But of course, not everyone was completely sold on Angel Reese’s performance. Some fans couldn’t resist pointing out the flaws. “How many turnovers?😂😂🤦🏽‍♂️,” one fan asked. Reese would finish the game with 5 turnovers, which you normally don’t expect from a big. There’s also a viral clip floating around of one of her passes going straight to the opposing team. Naturally, that gave fans all the leverage they needed to start trolling.

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But to Reese’s credit, she was quick to acknowledge it. In the post-game conference, she said, “Trying to give my teammates as much as I can. I know they need me. Tonight, I needed to do a better job of kicking it out instead of turning the ball over.” The Chicago Sky lead the league in turnovers this season, and it’s something Coach Marsh definitely needs to address. But at the same time, you’ve got to wonder, where would the Sky be without Angel Reese?

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From trolls to triumph: Has Angel Reese silenced her critics for good?

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