Sandy Brondello made the headlines on Friday for her viral comment on Angel Reese during the Dream‘s 111-92 win over the Toronto Tempo. The Tempo head coach called Reese a “protected species” in the fourth quarter when the play was stopped.
Reese did not take Brondello’s comment lightly. Following the Dream’s win, she expressed her thoughts on the Tempo coach in a sarcastic comment.
“ARE WE SURPRISED?! @SBrondello 🤡,” Reese tweeted.
Fans slammed the Dream star on X.
“I swear, Angel Reese has an IQ of 49. Hateful and profoundly stupid is a bad combination. Keep her layup missing ass away from my team,” one fan said.
“Angel is a professional victim,” another fan commented.
“*allegedly* what Sandy said has some cultural connotation to it. So I won’t harp on the word choice too much. But I don’t think Angel gets preferential treatment from the refs. like, at all. She’s beyond inaccurate in that,” another fan said.
Here are more reactions:
“Every year she gotta do too much. Tagging her like this is vile work. You know damn well Sandy is about to get an incredible amount of hate and harassment,” one fan commented.
“If the WNBA had any guts, they would suspend Angel Reese for this stunt. She has a history of making false accusations. If she’s allowed to wrongly tear good people down, her outrageous behavior will continue. You’re getting fired soon anyway. Do the right thing,” another fan said.
“You know this makes you look like an idiot, right? It’s a common saying in Australia! God, you are a moron, it has nothing to do with race!” another fan commented.
Angel Reese finished with a double-double in the win. She recorded 23 points, 12 rebounds and two assists.
Sandy Brondello showers Angel Reese with praise before “protected species” comment
Sandy Brondello’s comment might have rubbed Angel Reese the wrong way, but the Tempo coach had praised her before the game. Brondello spoke on the improvements in Reese’s game during the pregame conference on Friday.
“Angel is just so crafty. Her ability to anticipate where the ball’s coming in and her positioning to get offensive rebounds and putbacks is elite. That’s why she’s so good at what she does. I think she’s improved her moves off the dribble. They put her in face-ups too, and she’s attacking it,” she said.
Reese is outperforming many of her peers this season. She is on a 17-game double-double streak. She is averaging 15.7 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game on 43.4% shooting.
Edited by Avi Shravan