Was Angel Reese mocking Caitlin Clark petty? | Ball Don't Lie

Yahoo Sports senior NBA reporter Vincent Goodwill is joined by Michael Smith on the latest episode of "Good Word with Goodwill” on the Ball Don’t Lie podcast to discuss Angel Reese’s gesture toward Caitlin Clark in the Women’s NCAA Championship Game. Subscribe to Ball Don't Lie on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

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VINCENT GOODWILL: I love pettiness, which is why I don't mind the whole Caitlin Clark angel thing, as an aside, I just, I don't care about that stuff. Competitiveness, pettiness, I love it. Not even if you can dish it out, you can take it, I just like pettiness. I could care less about class.

I don't know about you, Mike. I could care less about-- class is overrated. You got to have class when you win. No, you don't. You just got to win.

MICHAEL SMITH: I'm big on consistency, another "C" word, not class, consistency. She is consistently petty. She does that to everybody. That's how she gets down.

So it's not like she is all of a sudden was brand new for Caitlin Parker, she got a championship. She talked that stuff to everybody she plays. That's just how she operates.

You mentioned earlier that I coach AAU travel ball. If one of my players did that, I'd have a problem with it. If one of my players did something like that at the end of the game, I'd take issue with it.

I'd sit them down. I'd give them an earful. They'd be wrong. I would not condone that kind of thing.

But from a pure entertainment standpoint, I absolutely loved it, just from an entertainment standpoint. Because it's like, I mean, we got a villain. You know what I'm saying? Or a hero, depending on who you are. He's a hero to some, villain to others. It's like, she's a character.

She's great for the game. They're both great for the game. The whole weekend was great for the game.

And I don't know how much you want to get off into it, but nothing happens in a vacuum, man. You could tell that there was some resentment, some built-up resentment that they just were waiting to get off their chest. And it's really connected to what Dawn Staley was saying about the coverage of South Carolina. It's like here you are, you're Angel Reese and you're being your unapologetic self. And you're getting all this criticism.

And, again, I'm not familiar with the criticism that she got. I'm sure she heard it. I'm sure she saw it. I'm sure it's real.

And you're watching Caitlin Clark be celebrated for the same thing. You can't wait to give her the business when the opportunity arises. Because it's like, for her to seek her out and give her this, it's like, she basically had that saved in drafts.

You know what I'm saying? She was ready to get that off. And in our post-game remarks, you know, like you could tell there's some-- there's a lot of baggage that was brought to this match-up, a lot of, like I said, a lot of resentment.

So I understood it. I was entertained by it. I think it's great for the game. I think Angel is great for the game. I think Caitlin is great for the game. Women's basketball won in general.

But if my son did something like that, I would take issue with it. I would not want my kid doing that. I would not want one of my players doing that.