Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky began the WNBA season with a matchup against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.
While Chicago was looking to start a new stage of the franchise under head coach Tyler Marsh and start the season with a victory, they suffered a 93-58 loss to the Fever.
After the blowout loss to Clark and company, Reese took to social media, showing off a potential change in appearance.
She posted a photo of herself with a hairstylist. On the table in front of Reese were several hair irons and hair sprays, where the Sky star wound up captioning the photo with a gif that read, "Work life balance."
In her first game of the season, Angel Reese posted 12 points, 17 rebounds and one assist. She led the Sky in scoring and rebounding, but it wasn't enough to put Chicago over the top.
Last season, Reese capped off the year averaging 13.6 points and 13.1 rebounds per game.
The Chicago star led the WNBA in rebounding and finished her first season in the league at No. 2 in Rookie of the Year voting, behind Fever star Caitlin Clark.
Reese was also named a WNBA All-Star in her first year in the league.
While the beginning of the Tyler Marsh era didn't start on the right note, Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky have another chance to pick up their first win of the season on Thursday.
Reese and the Sky are set to face the New York Liberty at 8 p.m. ET. New York started their season with a 92-78 victory over the Las Vegas Aces.
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The Indiana Fever lost a second straight game to the New York Liberty without Caitlin Clark. In both games, the defending WNBA champions scored 98 points and ran away from the Fever late, as Indiana ran out of gas. On Tuesday, without Clark for the 11th time this season, the Fever started strong and built a 46-42 lead over New York at the half. In the third quarter, Indiana led 67-60 before Breanna Stewart sparked a 9-0 run, giving New York a lead it wouldn't give back. Jonquel Jones connected on a trio of three-pointers in her return to the lineup on her way to a team-high 18 points. New York had six players score in double figures. Indiana had four led by All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell with 29, which led all scorers. Aliyah Boston was solid, too, with 15 points and 12 rebounds. But it's more apparent than ever that without Clark, Indiana is just an also-ran. The Fever just don't have the firepower to compete with New York, a team they defeated at home, in Clark's first game back from her first injury. Since then, she's been injured and slumping. Frankly, it's been the story of her sophomore season in the WNBA. As a result, Indiana is 12-12. The Fever are in sixth place in the WNBA and barely holding onto one of the final playoff spots. Yes, there are 20 games to go, but time is running short. Indiana has looked like a top-four team at times this season, such as when they won the Commissioner's Cup on the road. The Fever are still the only team to beat Minnesota on the road. They have beaten the Liberty, too. But without Clark, the player this team was built around, it just doesn't work. And it won't work with Clark playing below her standards, which she did for most of the first half of the season. The face of the WNBA is shooting 36.7 percent overall and just 27.9 from three-point range. That can't continue, not if Indiana wants to come close to realizing its potential. You could see the promise of this Indiana roster on Tuesday. The Fever went toe-to-toe with arguably the league's best team. But until Clark gets healthy and gets right, Indiana has limited upside. Tuesday was a reminder of that.
For years, NBA fans have discussed the lack of truly objective parameters for MVP. ESPN's Ramona Shelburne even once admitted to being a "narrative-based voter." That's why LeBron James wants to see other players get rewarded for their efforts as well. In the latest edition of his "Mind The Game" podcast, he proposed creating an Offensive Player of the Year award. "I did think about how the NFL does Offensive Player of the Year and MVP," LeBron said. "I thought that could possibly be something in our league. You give an Offensive Player of the Year and an MVP. It changes things." That's an interesting idea, but there's already a scoring title, so perhaps it would be a little redundant. Of course, being a well-rounded offensive player isn't just about scoring, but with no objective criterion, it would be just like voting for MVP all over again. Should the award be given to the player responsible for the most points scored, regardless of whether he scored them or gave out the assists? What if that player doesn't even make the playoffs? The same happens with the MVP award. Some believe it should go to the best player in the league, but sometimes, the best player in the league isn't the most valuable to his team. Other times, the most valuable player can't lead the team to the playoffs, so should it go to the best player on the team with the best record? The league has added more awards in recent years, so perhaps it will listen to James' pitch. Whether such a move would reduce controversy or just create more remains to be seen.
Another year, another shot at a championship. Since their last World Series appearance in 2022, a match in which they lost, the Philadelphia Phillies have slid backwards, falling in the NLCS in 2023 and the NLDS in 2024. This year, the Phillies are back on top of the NL East, holding a slim half-game lead over the New York Mets entering Tuesday. Still, their season has been far from spotless. The Phillies have gone through immeasurable difficulties from the bullpen without Jeff Hoffman (signed with Blue Jays), Carlos Estevez (signed with Royals) or Jose Alvarado (PED suspension), especially with Jordan Romano’s descent into the dumpster fire. But with new free-agent signing David Robertson in tow, we can expect some degree of stability from the relief corps going forward — though, not to insinuate that team president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is done adding bullpen arms. Another sore spot that received plenty of attention the past few months is in the outfield, left field in particular. Among all qualifying left fielders, Max Kepler maintains the second lowest OPS. Much has been made about potentially replacing him, but as bad as he’s been, there is one Philadelphia infielder that has done even worse. Once a promising bat, second baseman Bryson Stott seems to be reaching rock bottom. Below, you can his stats in comparison to that of Kepler’s: (wRC+: weighted runs created plus represents the culmination of a hitter’s offensive achievements where a value of 100 is MLB’s average) Stott has been more proficient than Kepler at recording hits, but Kepler’s power and higher walk rate gives him the edge in overall offensive stats. It was only in 2023, his second year of MLB action, when Stott hit .280/.329/.414 with 15 home runs. Unfortunately, Stott’s productivity began to slide last season. This year, his slump halted in April when he hit .314 on the month, but it quickly resumed in May (.216), worsened in June (.202) and has reached a fever-pitch in July (.132). If the Phillies are going to claw their way back to the Fall Classic, it may be better if Stott’s bat isn’t in the lineup.
There is an expectation that Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is going to take a big leap forward in Year 2 of his career. He is not only looking for a big step forward, he is looking to re-write the Bears' franchise record books. Williams said on Tuesday that one of his goals for this season is to become the first 4,000-yard passer in Bears history, while also completing more than 70% of his passes. “Obviously I have self goals, and that’s being the first 4,000-yard passer in Bears history.” Williams said. “That’s a goal of mine. Seventy percent completion helps the team, keeps us on the field, puts us in better positions, and then other than that just trying to go down and score the most points that we can with each drive that we have. That’s kinda my self goal and obviously, other than that, you gotta go win. That’s success for me, that’s success for the team, and that’s all we wish for and all I wish for.” Williams arrived in Chicago with huge expectations prior to the 2024 season after being selected with the No. 1 overall pick. The hope was always that he could finally give the team a franchise quarterback that could put it on a Super Bowl contending level. His rookie season had some ups and downs, but it was easy to see the talent and potential. It was also easy to dream on him if you are a Bears fans given some of the plays he made. He ultimately threw for 3,541 yards, completed 62.5% of his passes and threw 20 touchdown passes to only five interceptions. He is not only entering Year 2 with a full season of NFL play under his belt, the Bears have also surrounded him with playmakers at every position and given him a young, innovative head coach in Ben Johnson. Johnson was one of the masterminds behind the Detroit Lions' offense, and there is an expectation that he can do the same thing with the Bears given the young quarterback and talent around him. The Bears have never had a 4,000-yard passer in franchise history, and Williams certainly seems to have a strong chance of achieving it. If not this season, then certainly at some point in his career. The single-season franchise record is 3,838 yards set by Erik Kramer during the 1995 season. If Williams can get 4,000 yards and complete of 70% of his passes — as he wants to do — there is a good chance the Bears offense would be one of the best in football. It would also probably mean they win way more than the five games they did during the 2024 season.
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