Angel Reese has looked like the best player on the court for much of the WNBA Finals, including her 30-point, 16-rebound Game 2 performance that was critical in her Atlanta Dream team evening their series against the Golden State Valkyries.
Reese has been an elite player throughout her WNBA career. Yet, the one constant knock on her has been her field-goal percentage, particularly when shooting close to the basket.
The 24-year-old has received a lot of criticism about this, which may have reached a high point when the Dream lost in overtime to the Indiana Fever on August 16.
Reese missed an open layup that would have won her team that game. Her miss went viral and sparked a lot of backlash, and Reese was open about how much that miss impacted her mentally.
However, that fateful miss and ensuing loss against the Fever appears to have been a major turning point for Reese, given the marked shift in her efficiency from close range since that game.
Marked Difference in Angel Reese's Field Goal Efficiency Since Missed Layup vs Fever
X user @crashoutking1 made a post indicating that Reese's field-goal percentage around the rim (typically defined as within three feet of the basket) was 49.8% before the August 16 Fever game.
Since that game (where Reese shot 5-for-16 from the field overall), she has produced a 65.3% shooting percentage from that same range. That makes a staggering 15.5% difference between those two games.
Granted, there's a chance luck has factored into this, or that she was inevitably going to improve her close-range shooting percentage during this season. But the fact that Reese clearly took that missed layup against Indiana hard and has since drastically improved her efficiency suggests this loss to Indiana sparked a shift in the Dream star that has been a catalyst for her field-goal percentage to improve.
The bottom line is that Reese has patched up the one hole in her game and has arguably been the Dream's best player throughout the postseason. Her success in Game 2 is made even more impressive when one remembers that she's facing the Valkyries, who were the WNBA's best defensive team by a wide margin this season.
Perhaps Reese will eventually mention that game against the Fever as a turning point for her. Perhaps not. Regardless, it seems like an inflection point that could result in Atlanta capturing its first WNBA championship.
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