Portland FirevsSeattle Storm
POR 77/SEA 72
Things to say
The Portland Fire beat the Seattle Storm 77-72 on the road at Climate Pledge Arena.
01
opener
Fire went into Seattle and took it, 77-72. Storm just couldn't get over the hump down the stretch. Classic road grind.
02
key player
Carla Leite was the best player on the floor for Portland. 20 and 4, kept getting buckets when they needed them.
03
hot take
Malonga dropped 22 for Seattle and it still didn't matter. When your leading scorer goes off and you lose at home, that's a team problem.
04
deep cut
Storm are 5-17 now. They had nobody with more than four dimes all night, offense just bogged down.
05
exit
Anyway, Portland's actually rolling at 9-12. Curious to see if they keep it up next one.
The recap
Portland went into Climate Pledge and walked out with a gritty 77-72 road win, and it was Carla Leite running the show — 20 points and dishing dimes all night. Seattle got a monster game from rookie Dominique Malonga, 22 and looking like the real deal, but the Storm just couldn't get enough buckets to fall around her.
Megan Gustafson did the dirty work down low with nine boards to keep Portland steady when it mattered. Storm drop to 5-17 and took another tough one at home.