The last two times we’ve seen the Fire, they’ve collected brutal losses in games that would have allowed them to control their playoff fate; one against a Tempo team missing a bunch of players and one against a Washington team that Portland was ahead by 14 against at home.
They also announced their participants for the FIBA World Cup and announced their team’s mascot after mysterious scorch marks were found all over the city.
Let’s talk about it all.
First thing’s first: the Fire are alive in the playoff race. They are the last team in the league that is currently out of the playoffs but still have a chance to sneak in. Seattle, Connecticut, Toronto, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Chicago could all win every single game they play, and they’d still be out. Portland is the only team mathematically still available to play spoiler.
Funny enough, there is only one team left that hasn’t secured their current playoff spot: the Dallas Wings. Two teams left in the entire league who don’t already know if they are in or out (Portland’s loss to Washington secured the Mystics a spot in the playoffs). Funnier still, the Fire will play in Dallas tomorrow. The game will very likely eliminate the Fire from the playoffs if they fail to get the win, but if they get the upset, then the chase is officially afoot!
Portland is an expansion team with the lowest payroll in the league, a rookie head coach, no All-Stars or any player that has ever made an All-Star team, and regularly plays six rookies. Yet, they are the last team to be eliminated from playoff potential. Every time I feel like ways to run out of explanations for how successful this season has been against all odds, another accomplishment emerges.
Since the All-Star break – and on a per-36 minutes basis – Carla Leite is 9th in the league in points scored, 1st in free-throws made and attempted, and first in the league in assists. She has ascended from the best player on the team to one of the best players in the league. With the Fire’s method of playing players less overall, however, keeps Leite out of the simplest to track stats, and keeps her under the radar on a national media basis, because the buzz is simply too quiet for someone performing like she is.
Let’s briefly talk about the thrilling and disappointing Mystics game yesterday: Portland played one of their best offensive games, and was in control of the game through three quarters, before Washington scored 40 points in the fourth to steal the win. Only one other team has scored 40 points in a quarter this season, and has only happened 13 other times in (modern*) WNBA history.
Side note: did you know that before the 2006 season, the WNBA played their games in two 20-minute halves? I sure didn’t!
And, a Fun Fact: Which Fire player was on the team that scored the most points (45) in a quarter in WNBA history? The answer will be below, so you’ll have time to think about it.
Emily Engstler had the game of her young life so far, scoring 23 points and making 5 three’s. She was also shooting 100% from the field before she was forced to start taking low % shots late in the shot clock. The WNBA box score only has her with 1 steal and 1 block, but I would bet my life that she had more than that (or at least had several deflections), because she was everywhere in this one. I’m most disappointed that the Fire let Em’s best game slip away from them.
The reason for the L was the Fire bench, who all had negative +/-’s in the game, and had no juice in their stints. The group that featured 4 bench players plus Bridget Carleton was not working at all, and Serah Williams was a team-worst -21 trying to match-up against Lauren Betts and Shakira Austin. It was tough sledding for the rookie.
The Fire once again found themselves on the wrong side of a big foul discrepancy (made worse by having to foul Washington a bunch of times in the last 90 seconds of the game to stop the clock). I have never had an answer to why teams commit more fouls than others, other than tying it to having less WNBA experience, which this Fire team certainly has less of. Hopefully this gets better next year, because: yikes.
Fun Fact answer: Meg Dileo was on the 2023 Phoenix Sun, who scored 45 points against Connecticut, the most ever scored in one quarter!
Ok, let’s talk about Rose, the Glitter-Breathing Dragon, the Fire’s new mascot!
There was a great halftime presentation for Rose, who will be walking around at every home game, and joining the FireWerks dance crew for performances, and other fun mascot things. I was assuming it would be a dragon, and I had trouble imagining a good version of the mythical creature in my mind, but I like Rose! They went specific with her design, her personality, her style, and I think specific is great, even if it objectively does not play to my tastes. But white cis men are not the target here, and I think this is a great mascot for its real audience: kids!
Finally, let’s talk about the FIBA World Cup, taking place in Germany from September 4th - September 13th. The Fire, in their game on Sunday, announced their participants across four different country’s teams:
For France: Carla Leite
This is a crazy competitive roster, and Carla was not guaranteed to make it. The 22 year old joins France’s A-team for the first time, after a successful U20 appearance in 2023. She’s also one of Portland’s two point-guard/center connections with the Seattle Storm, with Domanique Malonga playing for France. Let’s talk about the second PG/C connection:
For Spain: Iyana Martin and Meg Dileo
No, Meg is not Spanish. But she does have dual citizenship, apparently! And she plays in Spain during the WNBA off-season enough/recently enough that I guess she wants to be/is on their FIBA team. Cool!
And the Fire’s first ever draft pick, Spain’s Iyana Martin, will lead the team in September, and will be the best look Fire fans will have ever had at the 20 year-old. Also on the team is Seattle’s Awa Fam, completing the interesting PDX/SEA FIBA connection.
For Germany: Frieda Bühner and Luisa Geiselsöder
Frieda has been growing consistently with the Fire this season, and now returns to a German team that typically offers her a bigger role. It should be really fun to see what Bühner does with the opportunity here.
Lui had her contract suspended after struggling to get playing time with the Fire around the All-Star break, and has had extra time to prepare for this FIBA tournament. She has great skills, and the exact profile the Fire want from her position, so I’m sure we’ll all be rooting for her success here.
For Nigeria: Amy Okonkwo
Fire head coach Alex Sarama said Amy won’t play much for the Fire before the FIBA break, and that has proven true. So, just like Martin above, this will be the first good opportunity to watch Amy play hoops before joining Portland’s rotation.
I’ll try to have a Fire Viewer Guide up soon, because this is free high-level basketball a few weeks before the W playoffs start. What a treat!