The Portland Fire got a much-needed win, defeating the Seattle Storm 77-72 on the road in Washington. Point guard Carla Leite led the scoring for the Fire with 20 points, while center Megan Gustafson pulled down nine boards. Dominique Malonga led all scorers with 22 for the Storm.
There were lots of good signs for the Fire early in this one: rebounding was excellent, defense was solid, and second chance opportunities were being generated.
Two problems though, and the first was that Portland couldn’t
score. At the end of the first quarter they were shooting 12.5% from the field, including going 0-8 from three. The second was turnovers. They had seven in seven in the first quarter as they seemed to be trying unsuccessfully to work the ball for higher-percentage shots. It could have been worse though as they “only” trailed 20-10 at the end of the first quarter in spite of missing 14 shots.
Once shots started to fall, at least a little bit, the Fire quickly got back in the game. A converted and-one from Carla Leite with 5:53 left in the second quarter put Portland in front for the first time since early in the first quarter. It would stay close for the rest of the half.
Portland was able to slowly build a lead in third. They couldn’t get quite enough of a lead for comfort, but Seattle was never able to get closer than three the rest of the way out. The Fire had some nervy moments bringing it home, but tremendous rebounding and juuust enough scoring delivered the Fire’s first road win in six attempts.
Here’s what we noticed during the game.
Rebounds
On an evening when neither team was shooting particularly well, rebounding was vital. The Fire, perhaps against expectations, won the rebounding battle 37-25. That was the biggest factor in the game by a country mile.
And-ones
It’s always exciting when your teams takes it to hoop, and the Fire did well tonight against some tall competition. One of the results was six and-one opportunities for Portland, only missing one of the conversions. 17 points on and-ones was big.
Keeping it even or better
The Fire have had a lot of games where they have been dominated in one statistical category or another. For the most part, Portland gave as good as they got this evening, including in categories that have been problematic this season. The aforementioned rebounding, fast break points, second chance points, and points in the paint either were in Portland’s favor or was just about even. Just a solid effort across the board for the Fire, in spite of shots not falling.
Keep shooting!
The only way to improve a 12.5% first quarter shooting percentage is to keep shooting. It’s not like they had any choice, but full credit to the Fire to somehow outshoot the Storm on the night 36.8% to 33.8% from the field. They never did find the range from deep though, finishing at 16% from beyond the arc on 25 attempts.
Pick and roll
Portland demonstrated a lot of variations of the pick and roll. Leite and center Megan Gustafson had some classic examples of the big picking the point guard’s defender, then rolling to receive the ball for a layup. More than few times though it was Leite who got so clear after the pick that she we able to attack the basket herself. One of the results of the latter type of action was that Leite got to the free throw line repeatedly. She shot 12 free throws on the evening and made them all.
Up Next
The Fire get a home game before hitting the road again for another four-game road trip. That single, lonely home game won’t be easy either as they’ll be hosting the Las Vegas Aces, currently co-leaders in the WNBA at 15-5. Game time is 7pm Pacific on Thursday, July 9.
