Liberty were diabolical in keeping Angel Reese from extending double-double streak

Chicago Sky rookie and former LSU Tigers star Angel Reese has been a lightning rod for controversy -- even when undeserved -- throughout her college and early WNBA career. However, what can't be denied is that Reese has started her career as a pro with legitimately unprecedented success.

Namely, Reese entered Saturday's matchup against the New York Liberty having recorded a WNBA record 15-straight double-doubles. Just like she did at LSU, she's been a force on the glass as an already-elite rebounder and has been picking up her scoring along with that.

However, against the Liberty, Reese had 16 rebounds but only eight points in the waning seconds of the game with the Sky trailing by 14 points. She clearly wanted to get one more look at a bucket to try and extend her record-long streak to 16 games. But the Liberty weren't about to let that happen, clearly.

And New York pulled out the stops to make sure it didn't.

Liberty triple-team Angel Reese to end rookies record double-double streak

On the Sky's final possession, they fed the rock to Reese down on the block. As soon as she got her hands on the ball, though, four Liberty defenders converged on her and forced her to lob the ball back out to the top of the key. She then called for the ball again but Chicago, instead, let the clock run out on the loss, which led to a dejected and seemingly displeased reaction from Reese.

That's a sinister strategy to keep Reese from even getting a shot up.

Reese drew some criticism earlier in the week on Wednesday against the Atlanta Dream when she drew a late foul with the Sky up by seven points in the final seconds with people accusing her of trying to pad her stats and extend her streak to 14 games at that point. What's more, the Liberty were distinctly motivated to end the streak on Saturday after Reese recorded the 15th consecutive double-double on Thursday in New York against them.

Perhaps the worst look in this, however, is Reese's reaction to not getting another look at a bucket. It's going to be hard to fight stat-padding allegations when a player is clearly upset that she didn't get a shot up in a game that was well out of reach for Chicago.

Having said that, her numbers remain impressive, averaging a double-double (13.8 points, 11.8 rebounds) per game on the season along with 1.5 steals per game as well. And now she might have a new personal rivalry brewing with the Liberty after they ended her streak so diabolically and emphatically.