Is Angel Reese Alright? Dream Coach Provides Health Update After Scary Injury
Angel Reese sat out the second half of Atlanta's 83-65 finale win over New York after a flagrant foul from Sabrina Ionescu, but coach Karl Smesko said the forward had been cleared and the decision was a precaution.
Angel Reese took an accidental hit to the face from Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu before halftime on Wednesday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The foul was called a flagrant 1, and she sat out the second half. Atlanta still beat New York 83-65 in the final game of the regular season. Dream coach Karl Smesko addressed the scare after the game. The win also locked up home-court advantage for round one of the playoffs, which gives the update on Reese extra weight.
Dream Coach Provides Angel Reese Injury Update
Angel Reese got the all-clear, and Atlanta still chose to hold the forward out of the second half. Smesko explained the call after the game. The staff decided "it would be smart for her to sit out the second half," he told reporters, per an AP report that Heavy cited.
The contact occurred when Ionescu, moving with the ball and trying to create space, struck the Dream star in the face. Officials ruled it a flagrant 1, and Bleacher Report described the play as accidental. Reese made both free throws, went to the locker room and later came back to the bench, but never went back into the game.
She was not the only player to leave hurt. Jonquel Jones went out with an ankle injury in the third quarter after she stepped on a courtside fan's foot following a three-point attempt. New York was already short-handed, because Breanna Stewart sat out with knee soreness.
The Liberty led by one after the first quarter, with Jones controlling the boards. Atlanta then took the second quarter 23-7 behind defense that forced turnovers. Allisha Gray finished with 24 points, and every time New York tried to make a push, she answered with a drive or a jumper. It was the Dream's fifth straight win.
Atlanta ended the year at 30-14 and took the fourth seed, so the playoffs open at home. Heavy expects the Indiana Fever in the first round, which would send Reese into the paint against All-Star center Aliyah Boston. Heavy sees that matchup as one that could decide the series.
Angel Reese Makes WNBA History, Again
Reese played 17 minutes in the finale and ended with 6 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, according to the Bleacher Report box score. The Liberty defense had frustrated the forward early. Two days earlier, in a 95-84 win over the same team, Reese had 18 points, 10 rebounds and two assists.
That Monday game went into the record books. The WNBA said on social media that Reese had recorded her 32nd double-double of the season, extending her own single-season record. It was the 81st of her career, which ties Yolanda Griffith for 12th on the league's all-time list. Yardbarker, citing StatMuse, adds that one more would put Reese level with Rebekkah Brunson.
The rebounding numbers tell a similar story. Reese closed the year at 16.4 points, 12.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. According to a HITC report carried by Yahoo Sports, that rebounding average ranks third in league history for a single season. The two seasons ahead of it are also Reese's own: 13.1 in her 2024 rookie year and 12.6 in 2025 with the Chicago Sky. Before she arrived, Sylvia Fowles held the mark at 11.8 in 2018. Reese is the only player ever to average 12 or more in a season, and she has done it three years running.