The Washington Mystics play the Portland Fire tomorrow afternoon. Let’s preview this game.
Game info
When: Sunday, June 28, 2026 at 3 p.m. ET
Where: CareFirst Arena, Washington
How to Watch: Monumental Sports Network
What to watch for
I gotta say that last night’s game against the Connecticut Sun sucked. Young teams have setbacks. But they can’t have setbacks against a team that is in limbo.
The good news is that Washington will head back home for a four game stretch starting tomorrow against the Portland Fire. And yes, the title
is correct. The Mystics haven’t played the Fire in 24 years. Why?
It’s because the Fire was an expansion franchise in 2000 and played until 2002. After the 2002 season, their franchise and some others folded because the WNBA intended to transfer ownership of teams to NBA team owners but not all of the NBA owners wanted the teams. Also, the WNBA was subsidizing team operations until 2002 and many NBA team owners didn’t want to do it after that. Paul Allen, the Portland Trail Blazers owner during that time didn’t want the Fire, no one else wanted to buy the team, and then the team folded.
Fast forward 24 years and the women’s sports landscape has changes. Women’s soccer with the Portland Thorns has been very popular with the locals. And now, Portland is the first city to get a WNBA team back after losing it 24 years ago. The owners of the team are Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, who also co-own the Sacramento Kings and the own the Thorns.
The Mystics last played the Fire on Aug. 2, 2002 and lost 67-65 despite Chamique Holdsclaw scoring 26 points for Washington. This time, the Mystics want to get back on track after losing to the Sun. The current version of the Fire lost three of their last four games including their last two games to the Chicago Sky.
Carla Leite and Bridget Carleton are Portland’s top scorers this season so far. Hopefully, Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen and Shakira Austin make life hard for them tomorrow.
