The Portland Fire lost their first road game of the regular season, falling 90-73 to the Indiana Fever. The Fever had to make do without Caitlin Clark who was sidelined with a back issue. For the Fire, guard Carla Leite returned from an ankle injury, although she didn’t start. Forward Bridget Carleton led the way for Portland with 16, while Aliya Boston led all scorers with 24 for Indiana.
The Fever started out hot, making their first five attempts and jumping out to a quick eight-point lead. The Fire
were patiently able to cut it to two midway through the second quarter, but Indiana responded in ruthless fashion, finishing the quarter on a 17-2 run to establish a 16-point lead at the half.
Portland missed their first four shots of the second half, and it didn’t get much better after that. The Fever were clearly the better team on the evening, looking superior on both ends of the court. The Fire continued to demonstrate that they will play with heart no matter the score, but this one wasn’t competitive on the scoreboard.
The Fire also suffered an injury, with forward Nyadiew Puoch needing assistance to head back to the locker room at the end of the third quarter. She did later return to the bench, but played no further role in the game.
Here are some things that stood out.
Carleton Creating Her Own Shot
Not too much was going right on the offensive end for the Fire. Three-pointers were contested and not falling, the paint seemed impenetrable, and assists were a rare occurrence. Credit Carleton for making the most of what was available to her. When the defense collapsed into the deep paint at the first sign of penetration, she pivoted and launched mid-range fade-aways with solid results. She added a couple of three-pointers on the few instances when she found space from the outside. On an evening when points were hard to come by, she found ways to get some baskets when her teammates largely couldn’t.
Too Big, Too Talented
The Fire are having some difficulty slowing down talented bigs. On Monday, Brittney Griner led the Connecticut Sun with 16 points, and today Aliya Boston had 24 for the Fever. Griner is in her 14th year in the league and Boston is a three-time All-Star in her fourth season, so you’d expect them to have some success. Still, defending bigs is something the Fire need to get better at.
Rebounding
The Fire are second from bottom in rebounding in the WNBA, pulling down nearly 18 fewer rebounds per game than the league-leading Atlanta Dream. This evening, the Fire were out-rebounded 45-29, with Portland getting only three of the offensive variety, a crucial factor in the loss.
Free Throws
Portland had only 17 free throw attempts compared to 29 for the Fever. For most of the game the ratio was even worse, with Portland drawing more fouls well after the game had been decided. Give the Fever credit for their interior defending without fouling, but the Fire really needed to force the issue more and find a way to draw more contact when the game was still competitive.
Up Next
The road trip continues north of the border and south of Portland as the Fire take on fellow expansion team Toronto Tempo. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. PDT on Saturday.
