What Happened.
Portland waited 24 years for the WNBA to return. Three days after the home opener, the expansion Fire had their first win.
The Fire took the floor for the home opener on May 9 and lost 98-83 to Chicago in front of 19,335. Three nights later, against the New York Liberty, they got it: Fire 98, Liberty 96. A Sarah Ashlee Barker putback in the final seconds. A 28-19 fourth quarter. A first win that did not feel borrowed.
This one was earned.
Down 7. Then 28-19.
The Fire trailed by six after the first quarter. By seven at halftime. By seven entering the fourth.
The Liberty had spent three quarters doing what the Liberty do: Marine Johannes pulling up from the wing (3-of-7 from three for 18), Jonquel Jones working the high post (17 points, 7 boards, 3 made threes), Breanna Stewart absorbing fouls and getting to the line (8-of-8 from the stripe), and rookie point guard Pauline Astier going for 24 on 10-of-14 from the floor in her best WNBA night yet. Without Sabrina Ionescu (left foot), New York still scored 77 through three quarters and was a single late stop from being 2-2 with a road win to show for it.
Then the fourth quarter happened.
Bridget Carleton hit a triple. Luisa Geiselsöder hit a triple. Carla Leite drew a foul and went 2-of-2 at the line. Emily Engstler deflected a Johannes drive into Carleton’s hands and Carleton beat the trailing defender for an open transition look. The Liberty’s 19-point fourth quarter included two-shot stretches where Portland forced bad shot selection from Stewart and Jones. Final ten minutes: Fire 28, Liberty 19.
The shot that made it official was Barker’s putback. She crashed for the offensive board, finished through contact, and ran back on defense before Moda finished losing its mind. The league called it her TISSOT buzzer-beater.
The Fire are 1-1.
Carleton’s 26 (and Five Threes).
Bridget Carleton was Portland’s first overall expansion pick on April 3. The case for taking her at #1 was that she was the most efficient three-point shooter Minnesota was willing to expose, and that on a Fire team built around floor spacing she would be the cornerstone scorer the system needed.
Game two of her Fire career, on the floor against a Liberty team favored on the road: 26 points on 9-of-16 from the field, 5-of-11 from three. Plus four steals. Plus a 4-assist line on May 9. Plus the 70-tying triple in the home opener.
Through two games, Carleton is 13-of-26 from the field (50%), 8-of-18 from three (44%), and 5-of-6 at the line. She is also the team’s plus-minus leader at +6 across both games. The Lynx played her at 5.7 PPG for seven years. Portland gave her the cornerstone role and the keys to the rotation, and through two games she is averaging 19.5 a night with five steals.
This is what taking a player number one in an expansion draft looks like when the math works.
Leite’s 21 and Six.
Carla Leite is 21 years old. She is from France. She had 18 points and 11-of-12 at the free-throw line in the home opener and 21 points and six assists Tuesday on 8-of-14 from the floor with a perfect 5-of-5 from the line. Through two games she is shooting 44% from the floor, 8-of-12 from the stripe (66%) but 16-of-17 in this game alone, has 9 assists to 3 turnovers, and is averaging 19.5 PPG.
Two-game numbers do not mean anything yet. The pattern emerging from them does. Leite is a point guard who can run an offense that creates good shots for everyone else AND is willing to take the layup that gets her hit. Both nights she got to the line a lot. Both nights she shot well from there. That combination, on an expansion team where most rotations need a year of bedding in, is the thing that turns competitive games into wins.
She is going to make the All-Rookie Team. The only question is whether 21 minus 22 means she’ll make Most Improved before she makes second-team All-WNBA.
Smalls’ Debut: 4-of-5 From Three.
Kamiah Smalls was activated Monday, May 11. She had been on the temporarily suspended list since opening night, rehabbing a left knee injury that kept her out of training camp. The corresponding roster move sent Jordan Harrison off the active roster.
Smalls’ debut line, in 14 minutes off the bench: 13 points, 4-of-7 from the field, 4-of-5 from three, 1-of-1 at the line, 2 assists. Plus-minus is the only ugly number (-12 in a +2 team game) and that came largely on the third-quarter unit where Portland gave back a lot of the deficit.
The four 3-pointers were the bigger story. Smalls is a veteran guard who has had four WNBA cups of coffee (Indiana, Connecticut, Minnesota, Atlanta) and zero stable WNBA homes. Her path to the Fire ran through Galatasaray in Turkey, where GM Vanja Černivec was already scouting her teammate Teja Oblak. On a Fire team that needs three-point shooting more than anything else, the immediate translation is real.
The Harrison move was hard. She earned her spot in training camp, made the May 8 cut, made her WNBA debut on May 9, and was waived three days later. The reasoning is the reasoning: 5’6” guard depth is replaceable, and an off-the-bench shooter with international polish is not. Portland’s roster math is a hard sport.
The Front Court Held.
Geiselsöder finished with 13-and-5 on 4-of-10 with three made 3-pointers and a +13. Megan Gustafson added 6-and-1 in 15 bench minutes. Engstler had three blocks for the second straight game and 2-of-3 from three, plus two steals.
The Liberty’s front court of Stewart, Jones, and Astier scored a combined 57 points. Stewart had 10 boards and three blocks. The Fire’s interior could have been overrun. It wasn’t. New York grabbed five more rebounds (31-26) but never the dominant rebounding game they had in their last meeting against an expansion team, and the second-half rebounding was nearly even.
The Geiselsöder-as-stretch-five identity Sarama leaned into in preseason held against an actual playoff-quality front court. That is news.
What’s Next.
Thursday, May 14, 7 PM PT vs the Liberty again. Same opponent, two nights apart. Both on Rose City SportsNet locally.
Ionescu’s status remains day-to-day. If she clears she’ll get her Oregon homecoming. If she doesn’t, Portland gets a chance to win the season series at home before the road trip starts. After that, Connecticut Sun on Monday, May 18 (Legacy, Reignited retro-deck giveaway, first 5,000) and a back-to-back with Connecticut on May 27 sandwiches the bus rides east.
The Fire are 1-1.
The 28-13 closing run from the home opener was the canary. The 28-19 closing run Tuesday was the actual song. Sarama said after the opener that he was “really, really encouraged, especially by that run in the third.” On Tuesday the team did it in the fourth, and this time the closing minutes were Portland’s, not Chicago’s.
The system works when the threes go in. The threes went in.
Twenty-four years. One in the books.
Read Next.
- The home-opener recap — Sky 98, Fire 83 (the 19,335 sellout)
- Final 12 + dev pool — the rotation that took the floor tonight
- Original Fire history (2000-2002) — the last Portland team to win a WNBA game
- 44-game schedule — every Fire game with TV / venue / theme
- Moda Center game day guide — transit, parking, food, bag policy
- Combined Portland calendar — every Fire, Thorns, and Cascade game on one page
Sources.
Liberty 96-98 Fire box score (ESPN) · WNBA.com game summary · Harrison waived / Smalls activated (KGW) · KPTV: Harrison waived, Smalls activated · Ionescu out (OPB)