The Portland Fire did not get the storybook ending Saturday night. The Chicago Sky came into Moda Center and spoiled Portland’s WNBA return with a 98-83 win, reminding everyone that expansion teams usually do not arrive fully cooked. There are going to be rough stretches, defensive breakdowns, cold shooting nights, and moments where the roster still looks like a group learning each other in real time.
But honestly? That was expected.
What mattered more was that the Fire showed enough to make their first game feel less like a novelty and more like the start of something real.
Portland trailed by 17 points in the first half, which could have turned the night into a long, awkward welcome-back party. Instead, the Fire fought back. They clawed into the game, found energy, and eventually tied it at 70 on a Bridget Carleton three-pointer early in the fourth quarter. For an expansion team playing its first regular-season game, that response mattered. They could have folded. They didn’t. That says something.
The best stretch came in the third quarter, when Portland outscored Chicago 30-18 and turned what could have been a blowout into a real game. That was the version of the Fire fans should remember. They played faster. They defended better. They found a rhythm. They made the building come alive.
Carla Leite was one of the bright spots, leading Portland with 18 points. She played with confidence and gave the Fire a real offensive spark when they needed it. That matters because this team is going to need players who are not afraid of the moment. The WNBA does not hand out development minutes for free. You have to earn them, and Leite looked like someone ready to do that.
The Fire also showed flashes of the kind of team they can become. There was pace. There was fight. There were stretches where the ball moved well, and the crowd could feel momentum building. Yes, Chicago eventually took control again, and Kamilla Cardoso was a major problem with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Skylar Diggins also hurt Portland with 21 points and 11 rebounds. But the Fire did not look overwhelmed for at least three of the quarters. They looked like a new team that had some good moments, some bad moments, and a clear reminder of how much sharper they’ll need to be.
That’s not a bad place to start.
Of course, the biggest win of the night may have come before the game even tipped off.
A sold-out crowd of 19,335 packed Moda Center, breaking the WNBA record for an expansion team’s home opener. That is not a small footnote. That is the headline. Portland did not just politely welcome the WNBA back. It threw open the doors, filled the building, and made it loud.
The crowd mattered. The players clearly felt it. Fire guard Sarah Ashlee Barker summed it up perfectly after the game, saying, “The fire pit was really lit.”
Hard to argue with that.
And that excitement should not surprise anyone who has paid attention to Portland sports. This city has long supported women’s sports with real passion, not the kind of polite, performative support that disappears after opening night. The Portland Thorns helped prove that. The Sports Bra helped prove that. Now the Fire have a chance to add another chapter.
Portland wants this team. You saw it in the jerseys. You heard it in the crowd. You felt it every time the Fire made a run, and Moda Center started to sound like a playoff building instead of an expansion opener.
That is what should encourage fans most.
The Fire are going to lose games this season. Probably a lot of them. That is usually how this works. But the foundation is there. They have players worth watching. They showed some resilience. They gave fans a fourth-quarter reason to believe. And most importantly, they walked into a city that already looks ready to care deeply about them.
The scoreboard said Chicago won.
But Saturday night still felt like the beginning of a very good thing in Portland.
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