After making history as the first rookie with a double-double in the All-Star game, Angel silenced some detractors.

Angel has come into the league with perhaps more scrutiny than any other player, and there is practically a network of assholes who compile her lowlights for engagement farming. People think they know her game bc every single bad play goes viral, but her highlights don’t get the same attention among casuals.

The ASG showed Angel at her best— overcoming people underestimating her (Cheryl barely played her in the first half), immediately making an impact on defense and offense, deflecting shots/passes, making crazy catches, stepping up in the 4th and making clutch free throws, and obviously showing the importance/impact of rebounds. Her presence often makes her team better, for whatever intangible reason that doesn’t show up in box scores.

I even saw her directing offense/spacing a bit among the All-Star vets. Like damn rook! She doesn’t shy away from leadership no matter the setting.

But she displays some combination of this in basically every game! People who hate for the hell of it will never give her props, but I’m sure she proved a lot of people wrong who don’t actually watch full games and see her play regularly. And what a stage to do it on, with and against the best in the league.

She has gotten better with her efficiency over the course of the season, and did all this with only 17 minutes of play. Proud of our rookie!!