The Portland Fire’s 88-80 loss to the Las Vegas Aces wasn’t a fun one. And, I know: what loss really is? But this week’s game offered a look at one of the Fire’s most consistent performance issues: their turnover rate is one of the highest in the league, and it’s costing them crucial points and opportunities whether they’re winning or losing.
Eight points isn’t a big loss, but watching the Fire go up against a team like the Aces is a great way to see what Portland is still missing.
It’s not fair to expect a team that’s halfway through its first-ever season to play on the same level as a team that won the WNBA Championship last year, that boasts four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, that’s coached by Becky Hammon, and that has managed to retain its core for several consecutive years. Wilson, Chelsea Gray, and Jackie Young have all played together since 2021; Wilson and Young have both spent the entirety of their careers with the team.
It’s also important to emphasize that the kind of team chemistry the Aces have is something that’s built and nurtured over time. The Fire has, hands down, an incredible team culture that’s tangible—you can feel it at the Viking Pavilion, when they’re practicing in front of coaches, staff, and media. You can feel it at the Fire Pit, when they’re playing in front of over 17,000 fans. That culture, those vibes—it matters more than you might think.
But that doesn’t discredit the idea that this game just might be an example of the Fire playing as well as they’re going to this season.
Head coach Alex Sarama is always thoughtful after a game, whether the team wins or loses. At this point in the season, it’s also become clear he knows what some of the team’s biggest issues are, and turnovers are right at the top. Sarama began last night’s postgame presser by noting that “outside of turnovers … there were a lot of good things” about the game. Those are familiar words for a team that’s fighting a familiar battle.
(Per Team Rankings, the Fire have the second-highest turnover rate in the league, with an average of 16 per game.)
Those turnovers are “tough,” Sarama added, especially since so many against the Aces were on layups and open shots, all moments the Fire should be able to capitalize on.
The Fire, who never led the game, came out of the gate hot during the first quarter, but lost that energy about halfway through. The Aces launched a 14-5 run that sent Portland scrambling, and an early second-quarter burst from Sarah Ashlee Barker and Megan Gustafson offered a glimpse of the fight fans have become accustomed to—but it wasn’t enough.
The Aces converted a 61-52 lead to 69-52 at the end of the third thanks to those aforementioned turnovers, and a late-game surge led by the team’s bench just wasn’t enough to overcome the Aces’ lead by the game’s end.
None of this means it’s all bad, and none of this means there’s nowhere to go from here. The Fire is still the same scrappy band of mischievous basketball bandits, and they’re still disrupting the best teams and the best players in the league. They outrebounded the Aces 30-27 last night, something that’s not easy to do. It was also a big improvement: the last time the two teams met, the Aces outrebounded the Fire 42-19.
Four players—Carla Leite, Taja Oblak, Gustason, and Engstler—finished the night in the double digits.
Bridget Carleton, who had 9 points, hit her 51st 3-pointer of the season, a move that pushed her ahead of Jackie Stiles for the third most 3-pointers in a single season (Stiles had 50 in 2001).
Portland will have plenty of chances to prove me wrong this season, and I hope they do. We’re already halfway through the 2026 WNBA season, but there are still plenty of basketball games to play. No one is more aware of their turnover issues than the players who are committing them, which means no one has more power to do something about it than they do.
Gustafson, who has so far never shied away from frank honesty this season, said as much after the game. Outrebounding opponents has been a “huge intention” the Fire has been working on in practice, and it’s paying off—so now, the next thing to conquer is those pesky turnovers.
“That’s kind of what happens when you’re a new team trying to figure it out,” she added. “So, I’m really excited to keep growing with this team.”
The Fire will have plenty of opportunities to grow. Next the team will travel to Georgia to meet the Atlanta Dream on July 11, a game that kicks off several out-of-town matches until they return home on July 31 to host the Indiana Fever.