The WNBA is back, and so is Caitlin Clark vs Angel Reese. In their first matchup of the season, everything ignited when Clark committed a hard foul on Reese. Their rivalry took a turn for the worse as Reese was quickly back up and in Clark’s face. The vibe before this game was that Angel Reese had moved beyond her personal feud with Clark, as she refused to answer a question related to her. She just cut off the reporter mid-question, indicating no interest in giving any material to the media. But it seems the rivalry is just getting started again.
That foul was first given as a personal foul but was upgraded to a flagrant 1 after a review. Clark was flabbergasted after that decision, as was the coach. Now this National reporter has pointed out another move prior to that incident, which was protested by Clark.
Rachel A DeMita said on her YouTube channel, “Angel Reese had some contact with Natasha Howard Caitlin Clark saw that contact; she turns to the refs and she’s like gesturing to them, and this is all happening very, very quickly, you guys. She turns to the ref; she was gesturing to them because she believed that Angel Reese fouled Natasha Howard”.
In the video in question, Reese was going for a rebound, and she pushed Howard forward with the ball still in the air. As it was not an attempt to play the ball, it should have been given as a foul. So, Clark saw that and protested to the referee for a bit before moving on, and then seconds later, she pushed Angel Reese to the ground right in front of the Sky bench. These events have an obvious correlation, but they also represent the uncertainty of the referees. They can call one play but proceed to ignore a similar play seconds later. Consistency is lost sometimes, much of it attributed to human error.
So the refs give Caitlin Clark a flagrant and ABC only shows the replay of Caitlin’s foul, but ABC doesn’t show the replay of Angel Reese pushing down Natasha Howard first or give Reese a foul? Caitlin was protecting her teammate where the WNBA refs wouldn’t. Bullshit. pic.twitter.com/eTg9hV0yIb
— Caitlin Oishi (@caitlinerin) May 17, 2025
After the game, the WNBA Communications X account released a statement from the game’s referee crew chief, Roy Gulbeyan, discussing why the flagrant was ruled as such. “Okay, the foul on Clark met the criteria for flagrant 1 for windup, impact, and follow-through for the extension of the left hand to Reese’s back, which is deemed not a legitimate basketball play and therefore deemed unnecessary contact. After the foul, there is a physical taunt technical on Boston and a verbal technical on Reese, which offset,” Gulbeyan said.
Many fans have pointed out that the Reese-Howard contact was also ‘unnecessary contact,‘ but of course it will be debated in the WNBA circles. De Mita also went hard on Angel Reese’s reaction to that foul, which was a simple basketball play with no malicious intentions, as Clark mentioned in her post-game interview.
Reese had an initial heated reaction, which is still understandable but she continued to abuse Clark after moving to the bench. Immediately following the foul, Reese seemed to say to Clark, “What the f— is wrong with you?” Then, when Reese was on the bench, she seemed to have more words for her rival: “You’re crazy as f—.” That certainly did not impress fans and analysts, including De Mita.
She said, “What I didn’t like that Angel Reese did is that even after that play, she kind of kept going, and it seemed like more and more people needed to hold her back. Like she was untucking her jersey. She was saying stuff to Caitlin, and she was kind of walking down the sideline. I thought that was too excessive.”
Caitlin remained calm throughout the incident and maintained that it should not have been a flagrant foul. “Let’s not make it something that it’s not,” Clark said after the game. Reese herself was relatively calm after the game. “Basketball play. Refs got it right. Move on,” was all she said. The fans will continue to stir up stories, but for no,w both have subsided and will focus on their games. Clark’s historic performance was hugely beneficial to one other person, Dave Portnoy.
Dave Portnoy wins $350k courtesy of Caitlin Clark
It was Caitlin Clark’s day in Indiana right from the word go, as she opened the scoring with her free throws. She went on to record her third triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists, along with 2 steals and 4 blocks. This sublime performance was part of Indiana’s 93-58 win over the Chicago Sky, a dominating performance to set the tone for 2025, and Clark made history in the process. Caitlin Clark is now tied with Candace Parker in third for triple-doubles in the WNBA. However, it was not only a happy night for Clark but also for the founder of Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy.
Portnoy placed a bet that was laughed at before the game, but it was he who had the last laugh. Portnoy revealed that he won $350,000 after winning a +1300 odds bet that Clark would record a triple-double. One month after claiming to have lost $7 million over tariffs, he has bounced back with this bet.
It was not a great scene for Portnoy the last time he hedged his bets on Clark, as he placed $100,000 on the Fever to win the 2024 WNBA title. And as we know looking back, that was not the best bet, as they were comfortably beaten 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs by the Connecticut Sun. He had posted his slip on social media and his pocket became more full as the game went on.
Fuck it. pic.twitter.com/hYdWDdfwwM
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) May 17, 2025
Portnoy could have been left with nothing if not for Stephanie White. She kept Clark on the court despite being comfortably ahead and winning. She respected Clark for completing that historic stat line, which will also take their morale up. Which could have been another reason White left her on the court. Your best player giving that performance with that significance is the start you want. The team is all behind Clark, who is looking stronger than ever.
The post Angel Reese’s Outrage Vs Caitlin Clark Fails to Rescue WNBA Officials as National Analyst Exposes Their Major Blunder appeared first on EssentiallySports.
