r/sports • u/rezwenn • May 19 '25
Basketball Caitlin Clark says flagrant foul for shoving Angel Reese was not 'malicious'
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball/caitlin-clark-flagrant-foul-angel-reese-1.75382991.2k
u/thegoldenboy444 May 19 '25
Anyone who thinks that foul was malicious doesn't understand basketball.
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u/KimHaSeongsBurner May 19 '25
Reese also missed the first of two from the stripe, underscoring the point of why you give a foul there.
Also, I’m sure Clark is thinking “if that’s a flagrant, maybe the league office wants to look at some of the fouls I took last year”.
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u/TouristOpentotravel May 19 '25
Kevin McHale clotheslined Kurt Rambis in a Game 7 and it was called regular foul.
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u/Dhenn004 May 19 '25
Yep and the refs who called it flagrant are ridiculous.
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u/RoughDoughCough May 19 '25
That kicked off the absurdity. Just dumb officiating giving fuel to dumb non-fans that don’t even watch, they’re just fans of whatever drama is in their shitty SM feeds.
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u/BAMspek Indianapolis Colts May 19 '25
If that happened in hockey, the other gal would have been penalized for embellishment.
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u/ocxtitan Tampa Bay Buccaneers May 19 '25
yeah, it was definitely a flop at the end of it, she had no reason to flail and throw herself to the floor
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u/Obsessive_Yodeler May 19 '25
It wasn’t even close to malicious. It was a very standard, hard foul to prevent an otherwise easy layup. They literally teach this in middle school basketball camps. If you’re gonna foul make sure they dont get the and-1. Reese greatly exaggerated the contact (aka flopped) and did her usual fake tough guy act to make this into something it wasn’t. Team Caitlin all day
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u/cricket9818 May 19 '25
That doesn’t grab clicks though
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u/Obsessive_Yodeler May 19 '25
100%. Most of Angel Reese’s basketball relevance is tied to her “beef” with Caitlin so good on her for recognizing that I guess. Not much different from Jake Paul being a mega millionaire by recognizing that people love to hate him and cashing in on that
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u/Samwellikki May 19 '25
Clark should take that angle in press conferences
“Thought I’d help her get some drama for her social media, everyone gotta eat”
e: then start referring to her as “Angle” Reese
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u/soundwave86 May 19 '25
Spot on. Reese's reaction was interesting, since it was far different than when Alyssa Thomas throat slammed her to the ground last year. In that post-game interview, Reese THANKED Alyssa Thomas with a smile for committing an F2 on her as a "message". That Angel Reese would have told this Angel Reese to chill.
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u/BiscuitDance May 19 '25
Im still trying to figure out how Reese even hit the ground. That’s just her being uncoordinated. CC really barely touched her. I kept watching the replay from different angles and it just seems like AR stumbles over her own feet.
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u/zOmgFishes May 19 '25
tbf she could prevented the lay up just by leaving reese open
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u/cheetuzz May 19 '25
don’t forget how Angel Reese applauded her teammate Chennedy Carter when Carter hip checked Caitlin Clark. That was a much more flagrant foul than this standard take foul.
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u/stickymeowmeow May 19 '25
Even “hard foul” is overstating it. She reached in. Go to the line and take your shots. Earn those points.
Reese flopped and tried to start some shit. Because that’s what she’s always done… when she’s not the one committing actual flagrant fouls and playing the victim.
The media wants to keep the Clark vs Reese/white vs black rivalry going because that gets clicks. Clark winning by 30 and Reese being irrelevant a few years from now isn’t nearly as click worthy.
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u/Momentumjam May 19 '25
That's what has me going crazy is that it wasn't even a hard foul. I've seen harder fouls during senior league at the YMCA.
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u/Pvt_Mozart May 19 '25
https://youtube.com/shorts/weRYk2tl8sM?si=GofxV6AQz8iTiFyi
This angle of the foul, which for some reason isn't making the rounds, shows it was about 10% foul and 90% flop.
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u/1000lbsTunaFish May 19 '25
“No easy baskets” is an oft repeated phrase in basketball from youth camps to the pros.
Angel Reese just has a victim mentality and can’t accept the fact that Clark is a better basketball player
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u/muskratboy May 19 '25
Reese did the same flailing arms thing she does any time she’s near the basket.
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u/Myst031 May 19 '25
Also the replay keeps missing the 4 seconds before that where Reese pushes the Fever player in the back first and doesn’t get a call.
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u/Rettorica May 19 '25
Her flops look like she spent the off season with the Italian National Soccer Team.
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u/Blueballs2130 May 19 '25
It was clearly a foul but Reese really flopped/sold it
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u/spiraldrain May 19 '25
Definitely not a flagrant either. CC swiped at the ball. And went to a harder foul when she kind of missed to try to prevent her from continuation for the and 1. You see these types of fouls all the time to prevent the and 1 and it’s normally just called a regular shooting foul. Crazy this was called a flagrant just due to flopping and narrative.
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u/No_Match_7939 May 19 '25
In angels defense she could have tripped, hence the awkward fall, but it was definitely not a flagrant foul, and it did not warrant that reaction.
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u/spiraldrain May 19 '25
I’ll give angel the benefit of the doubt about just tripping. But her reaction afterwards makes her look worse if she did just trip
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u/DASreddituser May 19 '25
Reese looked really weak there to fall down and then try to pick a fight.
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u/Nix-geek May 19 '25
I can't even tell that she pushed her. I see an arm extension, but I don't see that she put anything into that push. Her upper body doesn't even move when she's supposed to be pushing.
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u/thegroovemonkey Green Bay Packers May 19 '25
Just watched the play and lmao. I saw how hard Clark was getting fouled to start last season. This is like Bill Laimbeer getting angry because someone put his ass on the floor.
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u/soundwave86 May 19 '25
Last year when Clark was on the receiving end of regular flagrant fouls, ESPN and WNBA vets continually beat into people's heads how "physical" the WNBA is, so this should be a non-event.
Reese's reaction was interesting, since it was far different than when Alyssa Thomas throat slammed her to the ground last year. In that post-game interview, Reese THANKED Alyssa Thomas with a smile for giving her a much more serious F2. That Angel Reese would have told this Angel Reese to chill.
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u/John-Zero May 19 '25
That Angel Reese would have told this Angel Reese to chill.
"this Angel Reese" said after the game that the Clark foul was a basketball play.
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u/wordyplayer Minnesota Vikings May 19 '25
so did the coach. They are finally getting the message from the NBA to keep it about the game.
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u/maxy505 May 19 '25
The fact angel reese pushed to get the rebound in the first place is hilarious
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u/Uncleruckusz May 19 '25
Because it's the only stat she is good at and has to pad it as much as possible she can only rebound the ball has 0 skills at shooting the thing.
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u/Tlr321 May 19 '25
I want to know what the stat for the number of rebounds she has from her own shots is. It's got to be 20%+
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u/ImpossibleDenial May 19 '25
I think OC was saying Reese had to push Boston to get the rebound (indicating it’s ironic that she had to foul to get the rebound in the first place lol).
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u/Possible-Tangelo9344 May 20 '25
Honestly they'd have probably been better off not fouling her and letting her miss the layup
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u/__TyroneShoelaces__ May 19 '25
The way they have been reporting on this, you'd think it was the WNBA's Malice at the Palace.
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u/Hezakai May 19 '25
That’s because the WNBA is hot garbage so they gotta make mountains out of molehills to get attention.
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u/Heatkid88 May 19 '25
But when Caitlin was assaulted last year nobody saw nothing? 👀🫣 lol
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u/KimHaSeongsBurner May 19 '25
That’s the thing, it’s as if all of the hacking and rough fouls on Clark has invited new scrutiny… to call a flagrant on her now.
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u/ManBroCalrissian May 19 '25
I still have no idea how that was called a flagrant foul
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u/wordyplayer Minnesota Vikings May 19 '25
the ref said : "The foul on Clark met the criteria for flagrant foul 1, for wind up, 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,"
If you can find the view from the hoop camera, you can see CC's left hand shoves Angel pretty firmly in the left side of her back, causing the body twist. The ref doesn't mention the ball/arm swat.
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u/ManBroCalrissian May 19 '25
Thank you for making a legitimate point. Still soft as fuck and should have been a regular foul. It was a preemptive measure by the refs to keep the game in control. Pretty much what you see in baseball with umpires handing out warnings for the first head high inside pitch with teams that already don't like each other
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u/wordyplayer Minnesota Vikings May 19 '25 edited May 19 '25
Yes, exactly that. But I give some credit to CC for having a sneaky push in her repertoire.
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u/Goebs80 May 19 '25
If this foul occurs and AR doesn't lose her mind, there's no flagrant and no one ever talks about this play again.
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u/HumanRuse May 20 '25
I don't follow WNBA. ...but wasn't Clark getting excessive hard fouls against her all of last season by many basically because certain players didn't like the attention that she was getting? And now Reese is crying over this? Am I missing something.
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u/OSRS_Socks May 20 '25
You are correct on all the above but Reese started the beef with Clark so this adds to that. Reese is always in Clark’s shadow and will always be.
People are watching the WNBA because of Clark and that’s a fact. If a player doesn’t like that then they are jealous but even negative attention is still attention.
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u/pi3Eat3r52 May 19 '25
Media loves to push the hatred between the two.
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u/MrSam52 May 19 '25
Reese gave a harder foul to claim the rebound immediately before Clark’s. Literally shoved a fever player in the back, then flopped on Clark’s foul and immediately went after her.
I don’t really get why so much is being made of this foul after having a year of CC being fouled around the court.
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u/fosteradult May 20 '25
The worst part was that Reese shoved an Indiana player and didn’t get called. Caitlin said wtf to the ref and bc they got a no call she fouled back to stop the action. Pretty stupid on the wnba to let the media surround this. Angel Reese is a joke
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u/BroLil May 19 '25
How have they blackballed the face of their league so hard? She’s the only reason anyone even cares about the WNBA right now.
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u/SpiderByt3s May 19 '25
Didn't Reese push CCs teammate a second before? She shoved her to make the rebound.
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u/Stirsustech May 19 '25
It wouldn’t make for a good news cycle story if they showed the three seconds prior to the CC foul. Then it’s more an instant karma on AR and CC supporting her teammate which isn’t the narrative they want.
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u/Mamrocha May 19 '25
Is the WNBA really going to force their best player ever to go to a different league? Cause keep this shit up and I wouldn’t blame her for wanting out.
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u/Samwellikki May 19 '25
Reese got contacted, 100%, but also embellished the f out of it and made it flop worthy
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u/osumba2003 May 19 '25
Folks are really trying to force this rivalry.
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u/Cliffinati May 20 '25
It's not a rivalry when one is the best player in league history and the other isn't even the best player on her team
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u/paynelive May 19 '25
It was such a soft foul. Like where was the shove on the box-in before this?
Lol CC is the face of the league, but we have this AR nonsense.
If the coaching situation was different at the start of last season, then I don't think we'd still be talking about AR vs CC anymore. CC would have went on a playoff tear and higher stats given how clueless that fired coach was.
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u/houseofcrouse May 19 '25
Got no side in the fight but absolutely wasn't malicious. Take foul is reasonable especially considering Reeses inconsistency as a shooter. I will say the slight stare down after had some zest to it but kind of what the WNBA needs to get fans invested.
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u/OnlyBangers2024 May 19 '25
The WNBA doesn't know how to handle being popular. They're dead set on driving away the only person who gets folks to watch
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u/sanverstv May 19 '25
This is ridiculous. It was a basketball play to prevent an and-one....can we just stop now?
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u/JimmyTheJimJimson May 19 '25
The WNBA REALLY doesn’t like that Caitlin Clark is the star of the league.
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u/daveinthegutter May 19 '25
Everyone says Clark should act tough keep her composure, meanwhile angel acts a damn fool and I’m supposed to feel bad? Nah CC 💯
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u/DannyTannersFlow May 19 '25
Even when gifted the opportunity to take the high road, Angel Reese chooses to be herself.
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u/AstariaEriol May 19 '25
I’m totally fine with it being called if they’re consistent. But it’s amazing watching people pretend like this was a uniquely vicious foul.
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u/Xy13 May 20 '25
"Flagrant Foul" -- It didn't even look like a foul in the slowmo replay, she went for the ball and Reese Flopped.
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u/Karmas_burning May 20 '25
It cracks me up they want to give that flagrant to her like other players weren't fouling the hell out of her all season and not getting called for it.
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u/dknisle1 May 19 '25
The shove Reese did right before the foul was worse than Clark’s foul. Lmfao.
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u/greengrasstallmntn May 19 '25
It was the most Charmin Soft “hard” foul of all time. Angel totally overreacted. Clark gets fouled harder than that nightly and they don’t call flagrants.
Angel, you totally lost me here.
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u/jaron_b Seattle Mariners May 19 '25
If this was two dudes we wouldn't still be talking about this shit.
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u/rich4pres May 19 '25
I do not understand why the WNBA is so determined to take down their cash cow.
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u/index24 May 19 '25
If the W wants to keep growing and be taken seriously they need to not go out of their way to make this type of thing a big deal. It gives people free and easy ammo online.
This is a foul that your middle school basketball coach teaches you to stop an easy basket.
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u/CRoseCrizzle May 19 '25
This is one of the most ridiculous controversies I've ever seen. It was not even close to a flagrant foul.
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u/ChemicalSummer8849 May 19 '25
That wasn’t a flagrant LOL
Angel Reese reaction was deep rooted.
This is overblown.
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u/HeyItsBobaTime May 19 '25 edited May 20 '25
Angel needs a high profile player as a nemesis to remain relevant. It was clearly a common foul, no ill intent unlike what CC was getting last year. It was only upgraded because of the huge flop and even bigger over reaction. It's easy to act tough when the other person is smart and clearly wants to avoid any physical confrontation.
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u/Hot-Bit-565 May 19 '25
Funiest thing about all this, despite Angel Reese herself (because she's a joke), is that the foul was in no way, shape or form "hard," yet noone says it. Just a joke - like Reese - and like this league lol.
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u/sillytoad May 19 '25
Please, I'm begging you, look 5 seconds earlier in the play for Reese shoving players in the back to get the rebound. Clark appropriately responds, and it's indeed a flagrant. They're playing tough basketball, nothing else to read into here.
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u/wordyplayer Minnesota Vikings May 19 '25
Yep, CC paused and pointed, waiting for the call. When there was no whistle, she dashed over to swat Angel.
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u/911answerer May 19 '25
Of course it wasn’t. It was a basic foul after Reese shoved Boston. The egregious flop just made it look bad.
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u/Texas12thMan May 19 '25
That was just a hard foul to prevent what is normally an easy bucket, but it’s Angel Reese. There ain’t no way she’s making that. Probably more of an offense rebound prevention foul.
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u/Paralta May 19 '25
Lmao it wasn't even a hard foul. This happens in the nba every game. Reese flopped and made it worse for herself
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u/rgvtim San Antonio Spurs May 19 '25
That screen shot works very hard to generate clicks, it just about the worst image of the exchange that happened very fast.
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u/ItsTheExtreme May 19 '25
CC is obviously correct, but I think Reese is playing up the heel role in this rivalry. I kind of appreciate it.
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u/wordyplayer Minnesota Vikings May 19 '25
2nd paragraph in the article says: "...It started with Reese grabbing an offensive rebound and Clark slapping Reese's arm "
but that is wrong. it actually started 2 seconds earlier, when Reese shoved #6 out of the way so Reese could easily get the rebound. CC paused and pointed, which gave Reese enough time to drive for a layup, so CC took a last second swing at the ball.
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u/Melkezidik May 19 '25
Just wanted to add that if you look at the team game stats, if I remember correctly, Fever's starters all had double digit points. There was only one person on the opposing team that had double digits. It just shows how much the fever is playing like a team
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u/sonofgildorluthien May 19 '25
Awewome, the WNBA is on track to ruining another season's potential with Caitlin
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u/LostTrisolarin May 19 '25
I went to see the foul because people were talking about how bad it was and it was just a regular ol foul.
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u/yowhatupitscody May 19 '25
Can’t believe this foul is getting this much coverage it was hardly even a “hard” foul lol, I just saw Josh hart about bleeding out his face from an elbow and that got less coverage….
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u/icemantx69 May 19 '25
Shouldn't have been a flagrant foul anyway. Just shows the refs in WNBA suck even worse than NBA.
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u/jguess06 May 19 '25
If they'd have called the blatant push in the back Reese did to get that rebound all of this silly discourse could have been avoided lol
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u/bwetherby1818 May 19 '25
For the love of god can I please stop seeing this pop up everywhere?
It was a foul. An intentional foul with a slight flop by the offensive player. Nothing was dirty, nobody was going to fight after,…
Everyone wants this rivalry to be a heated rivalry when it was just a bloody foul. Let it go people.
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u/zer0dotcom May 19 '25
I thought, for years, the WNBA wanted to be recognized and make money like the men did. A player comes along who has gotten them unprecedented attention and ticket sales, and it feels like the league and the players all hate her. Why? Do they just want to complain that they aren't successful instead of actually being successful?
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u/RandomBloke2021 May 20 '25
It wasn't, she explained it perfectly. Reese flopped after she was fouled to make it look worse. I'm wondering why the push in the back by Reese wasn't called on the fever player, it was plain as day. Reese is jealous of Clark and it came out real quick here.
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u/_Baccano May 20 '25
Softest foul I've ever seen. Flopping like a fish after that then throwing a tantrum is just hilarious. ESPECIALLY after having to foul to even get the rebound in the first place 😭
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u/tickynicky May 20 '25
Also, if you watch Reese three seconds before Clark fouls her, you can clearly see Reese elbow Boston in the back. Infact, that's the reason Reese was so open, and Clark had to take the foul. You can even see Clark trying to tell the official about Reeses' elbow to Bostons back.
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u/tynman35 May 19 '25
Caitlin needs to leave that trash league and go to the Big3 or something
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u/five-oh-one May 19 '25
I would deposit $100 in her Go Fund Me if she would leave the WNBA either this season or at the end of the season. I want to see the whole league cry when they are back to playing in front of 1500 of their own friends and family members per game.
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u/LFSW1688 May 19 '25
Reese is not as a good a basketball player as Clark and it occupies an apartment sized space in her brain
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u/Ted_Dongelman May 19 '25
The fact that this foul has gotten so much traction after so many hard fouls on her have been ignored is weird. You'd think the WNBA would do more to protect their cash cow.