While some might find Angel Reese’s playing style a bit unorthodox, there is no denying the fact that it produces results. Ever since she stepped foot in the WNBA, the Bayou Barbie has turned into a double-double machine. And she continued that trend in tonight’s All-Star game, with another dominant performance despite coming off the bench, finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Sure enough, the rookie’s fiery performance caught everyone’s attention, even her coach for the night, Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller.

Joining the postgame show after her impressive All-Star game debut, Reese revealed what Miller said to her after watching her dominate, “Let me tell you what she said to me when I got my double-double. She was like ‘I’m starting to like you.’ I’m like…” Usually extremely confident on and off the court, the legend’s short message revealed a new side of Reese to the world as she was rather shy and speechless, even unable to complete her sentence while sharing it with the broadcast panel, who were left in awe.

Although the Chicago Sky star got only 18 minutes of playing time tonight, she made sure to make the most of it. From grabbing multiple offensive rebounds to finishing the basket after getting an assist from her “rival” Caitlin Clark, the Bayou Barbie did it all.

Moreover, her quick scoring outburst led to her becoming only the second rookie in WNBA history to score a double-double in the All-Star game after Yolanda Griffith did it back in 1999! And this is not the first record that the youngster shares with the veteran. In May, Angel had already stunningly made 24 offensive rebounds in her first 5 games, second only to Griffith, who had 31. Sure enough, Cheryl, who was looking closely at every play, being the coach of the WNBA team, was impressed by the rookie’s effort.

Fans admit to “holding their tongue” citing confusion over Cheryl Miller’s message to Angel Reese

While Angel was visibly left overwhelmed by the Hall of Famer’s message, the community had mixed reactions. Digging deeper, some fans wondered if Miller did not like the Chicago Sky rookie before tonight’s game. As expected, fans began attempted joining the dots, one being that Angel was not being named a starter, despite her being one of the most popular stars, “I could tell when she didn’t start Angel and didn’t give her a lot of minutes she didn’t like Angel. I was calling Cheryl all types of names on my timeline,” wrote a fan.

Meanwhile, another fan was just confused as to how they should react to Cheryl’s comment when Reese just laughed it off on Live TV. So, the individual just began celebrating the fact that Reese’s dominant double-double performance helped Team WNBA beat the mighty Team USA squad 117-109.

While some fans received Cheryl’s message in a negative tone, many even argued, “She probably joking with her yall just taking it too serious”. Surely, Reese and the broadcast panel took it the literal way, as just getting recognition from a legend like Cheryl Miller as a rookie is a big deal. More fans sided with this point and took it as a compliment, as Cheryl had talked highly about Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark even before tonight’s game. “Both these young ladies and their teams — people don’t want to face them down the stretch. Because now it’s starting to click. It’s starting to click in Chicago and starting to click in Indiana,” Miller had said, recently.

However, one skeptical fan wondered- if this was a compliment, would Miller talk the same way with Caitlin Clark? While Reese finished with a double-double, Clark had a rather off-shooting night as she finished with only four points. But she did make up for it by dishing out ten assists and highlighting her playmaking ability.

Although the fans are divided about Miller’s message to Reese, the legend likely had no ill intentions while being focused on the purity and development of the women’s game, and even the Bayou Barbie seemed to understand the humor behind it. Do you agree?