The Atlanta Dream absolutely lit up the Toronto Tempo on Friday, taking a dominant 111-92 win, but trust me, nobody’s talking about the score right now. All the buzz is around Toronto head coach Sandy Brondello’s sideline outburst during the game and Atlanta star Angel Reese’s fiery social media clap-back that followed.
The Foul That Sparked a Firestorm
Things got heated with just 3:16 left in the fourth quarter. Toronto’s Nyara Sabally fouled Reese after an offensive rebound, and the Tempo immediately challenged the call. They argued Reese had actually committed a hostile act, elbowing Sabally in the ribs. Sabally even had to leave the game during the review. While the refs were looking at the replay, microphones caught Brondello absolutely shouting. Her exact words? “Angel, she’s a protected species!” What Brondello actually *meant* by that became the center of a social media storm faster than you can say “technical foul.”
Reese Fires Back, Brondello Backtracks
The phrase “protected species” immediately set off alarm bells online. One user posted, “Calling a Black woman a species…”, and Angel Reese herself didn’t miss a beat. She quoted that message, tagged Brondello, added a clown emoji, and simply wrote, “ARE WE SURPRISED?” Reese clearly took the remark as having racial undertones, even if she didn’t explicitly say it. Some fans online tried to explain that “protected species” in Australian sports, where Brondello is from, can mean a player getting preferential treatment from refs, like in rugby. But what a phrase means Down Under can hit totally different over here, and Reese’s reaction showed that loud and clear. Brondello realized her intent mattered way less than how Reese received it.
Brondello issued a public apology on social media, which the Tempo’s team quickly reposted. She started with, “Angel, I’m sorry.” Brondello took “full responsibility” for using a phrase she “shouldn’t have used,” admitting her frustration was with the officiating but her words “unfairly put the focus on you.” She went even further, saying she understood her words “carried an impact beyond what I intended, particularly for Black women in our league, and I’m deeply sorry for that.” Brondello stressed her respect for Black women, having “spent my career competing with, coaching and learning from incredible Black women.” She ended by apologizing to Reese, her teammates, and the Dream organization.
Despite Brondello’s apology, Angel Reese, who dropped 23 points, snagged 12 rebounds, and added 3 steals in Friday’s game, hadn’t directly responded by Saturday afternoon. She did, however, repost a WNBA reporter’s tweet praising her for standing up for herself. This whole mess overshadows the fact that the expansion Tempo, now 10-15, has lost all three of their matchups against the 15-10 Dream this season. They’ve got one more game against each other scheduled for August 10, streaming nationally on Peacock. It’s gonna be a must-watch, not just for the basketball, but to see if this beef is truly squashed.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
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