The Portland Fire are back, and even in preseason, that sentence still feels a little surreal.
After two games, two losses, and one very loud Moda Center debut, the easiest conclusion is also the fairest one: this team looks exactly like an expansion team should look. There are flashes. There are mistakes. There are players you can already see fitting into real roles. And there are moments where the whole thing looks like a roster that was, quite literally, thrown together in a hurry.
That’s not an insult. That’s expansion basketball.
Portland opened with a 91-81 loss to the Seattle Storm, then followed it with an 85-75 home loss to the Los Angeles Sparks. Same margin in both games. Same general feeling, too. Competitive enough to stay interesting, messy enough to remind everyone that this group still needs time.
The good news? The Fire didn’t look overwhelmed. The bad news? They didn’t look fully ready, either.
Against Seattle, Portland fell behind early, trailed throughout the first half, then fought back to tie the game at 46 in the third quarter. That mattered. For a brand-new team playing its first game, on the road, against an established WNBA organization, Portland could have folded. Instead, Haley Jones grabbed a rebound and went coast-to-coast for the tying layup. For a brief moment, the Fire looked like a real team, not just a collection of nameplates stitched together in April.
Then Seattle answered with a 12-5 run and took control again. That was the preseason in a nutshell.
Portland can make runs. Can it stop the other team’s run? That’s the part we still don’t know.
The player who probably helped herself the most was Sarah Ashlee Barker. She had 14 points, six rebounds, and three assists against Seattle, then remained part of the regular rotation against Los Angeles. She looked aggressive, confident, and willing to mix it up. On a team still figuring out where shots are coming from, that matters. A lot.
Luisa Geiselsöder also stood out in the opener, leading Portland with 15 points against the Storm. She didn’t have the same scoring pop against the Sparks, finishing with seven points and six rebounds, but she gives Portland something valuable inside. She can finish, draw fouls, and stretch the floor a little. She also picked up five fouls in the second game, which is probably going to be part of the growing pains. Welcome to WNBA officiating. Please enjoy your whistle.
Carla Leite might be the most important long-term piece on this roster. She had 12 points and five assists against Seattle, then followed with 11 points and three assists against Los Angeles. The turnover numbers weren’t perfect, but the skill is obvious. She changes pace well, gets into the paint, and looks comfortable making things happen. Portland needs someone who can organize chaos. Leite looks like the best bet to do that.
The second game brought a nice showing from Serah Williams, who came off the bench with 12 points and eight rebounds against the Sparks. That’s exactly the kind of preseason performance coaches love. Energy, production, rebounding, and a reason to keep earning minutes. Nyadiew Puoch also had 12 points, shooting 4-of-5 from the floor and 2-of-3 from deep. That was one of Portland’s cleanest offensive lines of the preseason.
So, who stood out?
Barker brought toughness. Leite brought playmaking. Geiselsöder brought interior scoring. Williams brought energy. Puoch brought efficiency. Emily Engstler deserves a mention, too, because even in a quiet scoring game against Seattle, she had seven rebounds, two assists, and three blocks. You can use players like that. Every team needs someone willing to do the unglamorous stuff while everyone else hunts shots.
What needs work?
Start with turnovers. Portland had 16 against Seattle and 24 against Los Angeles. The Fire also had 29 fouls against the Sparks after committing 30 against Seattle. That’s too many whistles, too many resets, and too many chances for opponents to score without needing to run good offense.
The shooting also needs to come around. Portland went 6-of-23 from three against Seattle and 4-of-18 from three against Los Angeles. That’s 10-of-41 across two games. Preseason shooting can be weird, especially with new teammates and experimental lineups, but spacing will be a real question if teams don’t respect Portland from outside.
Rebounding was a mixed bag. Seattle crushed Portland on the glass, 60-46, including 17 offensive rebounds. That’s a problem. Against Los Angeles, the Fire were much better, losing the rebounding battle by just one, 31-30. That improvement matters, but it also shows how thin the margin will be. Portland probably isn’t going to out-talent many teams right away. It has to win effort categories, or at least survive them.
The Sparks game also gave Portland a taste of what veteran WNBA teams can do. Los Angeles got 17 points, four rebounds, and five assists from Nneka Ogwumike, 13 points from Dearica Hamby, and 13 from Kelsey Plum. That kind of calm, professional production is hard to fake. Portland has energy. Los Angeles had answers. There’s a difference.
That brings us to the big question: are the Fire ready for the regular season?
Emotionally? Absolutely.
Portland drew 13,550 fans for its first home preseason game, and by all accounts, the building treated it like something much bigger than an exhibition. That matters. The team is new, but the market is ready. The WNBA belongs in Portland, and the city looked eager to prove it.
Basketball-wise? Not quite.
That doesn’t mean Portland is doomed. It means this team is still learning where everyone likes the ball, who closes games, who guards the other team’s best perimeter player, and how to survive when the offense stalls. Those answers don’t usually show up after two preseason games. They show up in the middle of a tough second quarter in July, when legs are tired and teams have scouted your first three actions.
The Fire open the regular season at home against the Chicago Sky on May 9. That’s a winnable game, but it’s also a test of whether Portland can turn preseason lessons into regular-season habits.
My biggest takeaway is this: the Fire have enough pieces to be interesting, but not enough cohesion yet to be comfortable.
That’s fine. Expansion teams aren’t supposed to be comfortable. They’re supposed to be scrappy, uneven, occasionally frustrating, and fun in strange bursts.
Through two preseason games, Portland checked all those boxes.
Now comes the real part. The crowd is ready. The logo looks good. The uniforms work. The team has a few players worth watching.
The basketball just needs to catch up.
Be the first to comment