The Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire’s full inauguration into the WNBA awaits a next step: winning a first-ever Commissioner’s Cup game.
On Sunday, the Tempo host the Chicago Sky (3 p.m. ET, WNBA League Pass), while the Fire make their first visit to Southern California to play the Los Angeles Sparks (7 p.m. ET, NBA TV).
For both newcomers, strong games for the players they tapped as their signatures stars should put them in position to secure a Cup win.
And considering Toronto and Portland already are
in significant point differential debt, with the Tempo losing their lone Cup game by 15 points and the Fire down 24 points are coming up short in two Cup contests, they need BIG wins to have any chance of mustering a push for the top of the Eastern and Western Conference Cup tables.
So, what does Toronto need from Marina Mabrey? And, can Bridget Carleton deliver for Portland? Let us know what you think, or if you see another member of the Tempo or Fire stepping up on Sunday.
Can Marina Mabrey’s momentum carry the Tempo to a Cup win?
The Tempo are an offensive team.
In wins, they’re lighting up the scoreboard for nearly 99 points per game. In losses, they drop by exactly 20 total points to 78.8 per contests.
Unsurprisingly, Mabrey’s win-vs.-loss performance profile corresponds.
The reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week scores more, and more efficiently, in wins. She struggles, quite starkly, in losses.
Averaging a career-high 18.5 points per game, Marina spikes to 22.4 points in wins, and sinks to 14.6 points in losses. Bouncing back after a poor 3-point shooting season in 2025, Mabrey’s converting a solid-enough 35.4 percent on over eight attempts per game overall. Those numbers, again, improve in wins, when she’s averaging four made 3s at 44.4 percent rate. In losses, she’s not scratching 25 percent from downtown on a lower volume of attempts.
Go down the stat sheet and the pattern holds. She shoots better from the free throw line, dishes more assists and commits fewer turnovers in wins.
The Mabrey formula, and, in turn, the Tempo formula, is straight-forward. When the shots are falling, all is good.
But while simple, it isn’t boring. It’s anything but. A Mabrey heater is electric, with every subsequent made shot matched by fiercer sneers, taunts, jeers, goads and gesticulations.
Can Marina find the magic and carry the Tempo to their first-ever Cup win?
Can Bridget Carleton and the Fire get a Cup bounce back?
By both personality and play, Carleton comes off as the opposite of Mabrey. At least at first glance. But, that initial look can be deceiving.
During her tenure with the Minnesota Lynx, Carleton had some moments of spice snuck through the Canadian’s Minnesota Nice. But overall, Carleton just grinned as she fulfilled a catch-and-shoot role for the Lynx.
With Portland, she’s been empowered to operate as a star.
Because of her previously limited shot selection, Carleton’s increase in offensive usage has dampened her efficiency. But within a Fire offense that favors egalitarianism, Carleton is the engine. She’s reaching career highs in shot attempts and free throws, all while upping her playmaking activity on the defensive end.
The star-level consistency is not quite there. Carleton coming off her least productive game of the season, scratching for just six points on 22 percent shooting in the Fire’s disappointing home loss to the depleted Mercury.
After that L, Carleton still took to the podium with a smile, expressing belief in her team and their resilience.
Do you believe that Bridget and the Fire not only can bounce back in LA, but, in doing so, grab their first Cup victory?
