The Portland Fire debuted the team’s mascot during the team’s loss to the Washington Mystics Sunday night. She’s a shiny pink dragon named Rose who breathes glittery fire, wears pink Nikes, and sports ice blue nails. She’s fantastic, and we’re going to get to her in a minute.
But, more urgently, there’s something else that needs to be said first.
The Fire are ninth in the league, an impressive result for an expansion team no matter who you are, where you’re from, or what you did (🎵as long as you love me 🎵). The Toronto Tempo, who also made their WNBA debut this season, are 13th—but comparisons aren’t really sound or even worth it, because the Fire has been on their own path all season.
Though the top eight teams make the playoffs and it’s theoretically possible the Fire could crack that echelon, the gulf between the team and the eighth-ranked Dallas Wings is wide: a difference of seven wins separate the two, and the Fire has seven games left. They’d have to win them all, which would mean beating the Wings as well as the Golden State Valkyries (second in the league) three times, the Atlanta Dream (fourth), the Phoenix Mercury (12th, and they’re already out of playoffs contention), and the Los Angeles Sparks (11th, and same).
There are also probably at least two teams who would have to lose all of their games, but there’s a reason I write and report and don’t put together rocket ships (the math escapes me, please don’t make me try).
Tanking is a common topic in pro leagues at this point; some teams start losing on purpose. It doesn’t happen in the WNBA as much as it does in the NBA because women just inherently have more honor than men because the whole point of tanking is to do better in the next season’s lottery. The WNBA lottery is structured differently than the NBA’s. In the W, a team’s last two seasons are used to determine their lottery ranking, and, therefore, their odds of landing a top draft pick. The Fire only has one season to go off of, so the highest spot they can hope for is fourth.
But even if they could land the number one overall pick, based on their own words it’s unlikely the team would lose on purpose just to get there. That’s an admirable way to play, and it’s also something that’s part of the team’s ethos.
While speaking to reporters after the team’s 105-100 loss to the Washington Mystics Sunday night, Emily Engstler and Megan DiLeo took a lot of responsibility for the second half of the game, when the Fire lost the lead and couldn’t get it back.
“I’m going to take a lot of accountability for that, because their post players really took it at us, and that’s my job,” DiLeo, who had 21 points, said. “I need to be stronger, to be mentally tougher in those moments. And I’m going to learn from this game and I’m going to be better next time.”
Engstler, who ended the night with 23 points, agreed. “Yeah, I definitely take responsibility to being a little tougher in the second half and showing them some more fight, making the finishing a little more difficult. I think there’s a pride you take defensively that allows you to win games, and we have it, but sometimes it’s been falling short lately and like, that’s okay. We just got to get back to us. This is a really good team, and I think that’s where our frustration is, because we know we can win these games.”
She then addressed the obvious: “I really don’t care if we don’t make playoffs—I still want to win every game. I want to put us in the best position to keep building for the previous seasons.
The trouble with basketball is that there are no promises. An ideal expressed by many in the game, including several Fire players to this reporter all season, is keeping the team together next season, and the season after that. There’s something powerful that can take place when a team has several years to bond and grow, to understand one another on a level that’s almost cellular and certainly a bit psychic. But the WNBA, like every other professional league, is a business, and there are people who never step on the court who make these decisions.
The season is also far from over. Sure, some of those upcoming games will be difficult, but the Fire has the talent, and maybe even more importantly, the heart needed to win, or to get awfully close. Hell, their two losses were honorable: In addition to last night’s 105-100 game, Portland lost 82-79 to the Tempo, who were playing in front of fans in Vancouver for the first time ever and had something to prove.
The Fire’s 14-0 run wasn’t enough in Vancouver.
Portland traveled north to meet the Tempo in Vancouver on August 21. The game was a special one for the WNBA, since the Tempo are typically based in Vancouver. Because Toronto’s team represents the entire country of Canada, attempts have been made all season to bring WNBA basketball to as much of The True North as possible.
Despite a furious 14-0 run in the fourth quarter, the Fire couldn’t quite muster up the win against the Tempo. That quarter featured back-to-back three-point shots from Engstler and Bridget Carleton, but the team missed two opportunities to push a tied game into overtime and ultimately went down.
Head coach Alex Sarama spoke to reporters after watching the end of the game again, when he admitted the other guys were just a little bit better that night. “It was obvious… you got to give Toronto credit,” he said. “[Their defense] was completely different tonight in terms of how they stepped up and applied so much pressure.” The Fire gave up too many fouls, something that also cost the team in the end.
Sarama also had praise for Engstler.
“I don’t think there’s a player in this league who plays harder and is more gritty,” he said. “So credit for that. She’s such a tough competitor and we need that. It’s a really important part of a team identity when you have that, a player like Em bringing it every night.”
And now, a word for Rose.
Team identity is hinged to a lot of things: colorways, jersey design, the city a team calls home, the heart of the players on the court. And, of course, it’s hinged on the team’s mascot, and the Fire and the team’s fans have waited all season to find out just who, or what, their mascot will be.
Sunday night Rose the dragon made her debut at the Fire Pit (or the House of the Dragon, some might say). There are important things to know about Rose, and the top of the list might be that she has a strong affinity for Rihanna. She also carries a pink bag and sports My Little Pony-esque large blue eyes; her energy is light and effervescent, and her dragon lair is hospitable to fans.
Her birthday, of course, is August 23, and she’s a Virgo. She naturally sports only Nikes; her hobbies include “dancing, reading, exploring Portland, and collecting sneakers.” She wears a rose crown as a nod to the city as well as her name. As Rose’s Instagram account says, “Confident, magnetic and effortlessly cool, Rose embodies the spirit of Portland: bold, creative, welcoming and always ready to bring the heat.”
The Portland Fire will play the Dallas Wings in Texas on August 25, and then the Atlanta Dream in Georgia on August 28.