United States interior threat Angel Reese left the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup with a gold medal ... but without the top defensive award.
Team USA beat France for gold on Sept. 13 but FIBA named Gabby Williams of the runner-ups the tournament's Best Defensive Player. Four days later, back in an Atlanta Dream uniform, Reese made her case for the WNBA's version on Thursday, apparently taking things personally in a 103-59 win over the Connecticut Sun.
Connecticut shot 35.4% from the field, went 6-of-17 at the rim, and turned it over 14 times in a one-sided loss that saw Atlanta lead by as many as 45. Reese finished with 30 points on 11-of-14 shooting, 10 rebounds, and two blocks, and the Dream were a game-best 31 points better than Connecticut with her on the floor.
One blowout of a 10-31 team doesn't decide an award. Forty games of the same thing should.
Three of the last four Defensive Player of the Year awards have gone to Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson. This season, the award belongs in Atlanta.
The Angel Reese DPOY Case Starts With Her Minutes
With Reese on the floor, the Dream have allowed 99.6 points per 100 possessions across 1,256 minutes. The Golden State Valkyries lead the league at 99.8 for the full season. For 1,256 minutes, Atlanta has been a better defensive team than the best defensive team in the WNBA.
Sit her, and it's a different team. In the 389 minutes Reese has spent on the bench, Atlanta gives up 107.6 points per 100 possessions, a number that would rank eighth in the league. The Dream outscore opponents by 10.2 points per 100 possessions with her and play them to a draw without her, at plus-0.2.
Five Atlanta players have logged at least 1,000 minutes. Allisha Gray has the next-largest gap after Reese, with the defense 4.1 points better when she plays. Rhyne Howard and Naz Hillmon both post better defensive ratings when they sit.
Reese is in her first season under Dream coach Karl Smesko and he has quickly leaned on her to set the defensive tone for her teammates.
"We love that our team takes pride in defense, and that has been pretty consistent in every game," Smesko said. "That we're willing to compete each possession, and we understand that we want to work to make sure that we don't give up anything easy at any time."
"Angel is somebody who's very serious about her defense and wants to learn to have every advantage defensively."
Doing It at the Five
Reese has carried that load at center. Brionna Jones played nine games before Atlanta ruled her out for the season and rookie Madina Okot averages 9.3 minutes a night. With the veteran Jones plagued by injury, Reese's interior presence has been especially valuable for Atlanta.
Dream general manager Dan Padover built the frontcourt that Jones' injury thinned out, and Reese's versatility has kept that from becoming a problem.
"With Angel on the back line, she can switch from guards to bigs," Padover noted. "She's so quick."
Entering the final weekend of regular season play, Reese leads the WNBA at 12.4 rebounds a game, 7.4 of them on the defensive glass. Having a player like Reese who is so proficient at rebounding while playing the five allows Atlanta to maximize defensive versatility with different lineup combinations.
Gray has played more minutes this season than any Dream player except Howard. All that time on the floor together hasn't made Reese's work on the glass any less striking to her.
"That's a talent," Gray said of Reese's rebounding after she pulled in a WNBA single-game record 26 in a August win over Los Angeles. "I'm just in awe watching her rebound."
The Washington Mystics beat Atlanta 79-74 on Aug. 7, a night Reese went 1-of-12 from the field and still grabbed 16 rebounds, seven of them offensive. Shakira Austin had 21 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 blocks for Washington and dealt with Reese for the full game.
"She takes a lot of effort to defend with continuously going after rebounds," Austin said after that matchup. "She's very physical."
One Through Three
Reese is part of the Dream's pressure on the ball, too. Her 1.8 steals rank third in the league, behind only two teammates: Howard averages 2.4 steals while Jordin Canada takes 1.9 a game.
One of Reese's most prominent DPOY cases came in a 99-89 at Phoenix on Aug. 22, a triumph that saw the Dream earn 12 steals and 16 forced turnovers. Reese had 31 points on 14-of-21 shooting, 14 rebounds, and four of the steals. Afterward, she put Atlanta's defense at the center of the award race.
"I think the Defensive Player of the Year is in Atlanta," Reese said. "One through three. One of us. So you can check the stats, too."
Of the three, Reese is the one whose minutes swing the Dream's defense. Canada's on-off gap is 1.3 points, and Atlanta defends slightly better with Howard on the bench.
A'ja Wilson and the Golden State Valkyries
At 0.7 blocks a game, Reese isn't a traditional rim protector. That is the argument for Wilson.
Wilson shared last season's honor with Alanna Smith in the first joint DPOY title in league history. Before this season started, 53% of the league's general managers picked the four-time MVP as its best defender.
Wilson's rim protection is real. Her team's defense is not at Atlanta's level. Entering Saturday, the Aces rank sixth with a 106.6 defensive rating, close to where the Dream sit when Reese is on the bench.
Golden State is the stronger alternative: the Valkyries are 30-11 with the league's best defense and Williams finished third in last season's voting before winning the aforementioned World Cup's top defensive award . But Golden State's 99.8 is a full-season number built by a roster. Atlanta's 99.6 is what the Dream look like when one player is on the floor and their eighth-caliber defense without her shows how much of it she accounts for.
The Final Three Games
Atlanta enters Saturday at 27-14, tied with the Indiana Fever for the fourth and final playoff seed that grants homecourt advantage in the first round. The Dream hosts the Chicago Sky on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, Prime Video) and closes the regular season with two games in New York on Monday and Wednesday.
Capturing that last spot, or even something higher (Atlanta is a game behind No. 3 Las Vegas), would certainly be one way to leave an impression on DPOY voters.
"I just want to be there for my team," Reese said of her role in this closing trio. "Offensively, defensively, whatever it takes to win."
Defensive Player of the Year should go to the player whose defense changes her team the most. This season, that's Reese.
