Young upstart expansion sisters from Portland stun the Tempo

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They are expansion sisters, but that is about where the comparisons end for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo.

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The Fire, as head coach Alex Sarama readily admitted before the game between the teams Saturday, drafted and crafted its roster with development front of mind.

The Tempo were much more concerned with the now and winning in the present, and as such took a more experienced, more veteran approach to their team build.

That’s not to say that the Fire aren’t concerned with winning. Youth doesn’t automatically mean struggle and the Fire, to their credit, have been in every game they have played this year.

Still, in a season where they will rarely be the favourite based on nothing more than their newness in the league, the Tempo began the night 4.5-point favourites on their expansion sisters from Portland.

Someone clearly forget to tell the Fire what was supposed to happen.

Not only did they hang around for the better part of three quarters, they began the fourth with a five-point lead and spent the better part of the quarter building on it getting the lead up to 19 before finishing up with a 99-80 win, sending 8,210 Tempo fans home a little disappointed.

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The hope is this was nothing more than the curse of the return from a west coast trip, a real thing in the NBA where teams playing their first game at home following a visit to the west coast struggle.

A struggle would sum up nicely the kind of night it was for the Tempo.

“We didn’t play anywhere near to our potential, “ Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello said afterwards. “It was disappointing. We had that lead at 39-30 (in the second quarter) and they took a timeout and then it went all downhill. I just think we got away from our identity. Our defence is very average at the moment. We have to find solutions for that.”

Brondello didn’t like the ball movement she saw from her team either. If fact there wasn’t a lot she did not like about the night, but eventually she found a positive.

“We’re facing some adversity and sometimes you need to get slapped in the face to make some change and be better.”

The three-point game that the Tempo tend to rely on never really got going as the home side threw up 25 on the night but hit only six. Their 24% success rate from distance looked that much worse beside what the young guns from Portland were doing as they were hitting at a 48% success rate.

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Brondello, though, made a point postgame of giving the Fire their flowers for a very well-played game.

“Portland exploited us all over the floor,” she said. “Our pick and roll defence wasn’t very good. Our one-on-one defence … I mean they were reactive and scrambly and yes, they have fresh legs but we can still do that.”

Only on this particular night they did not, and in the end got the result they deserved.

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If there was a bright spot, it was in seeing Bridget Carleton of Chatham, Ont., return to her home country. The established leader on her Portland team efficiently led her team to the win.

No one was more impressed than her Canadian National team teammate Kia Nurse.

“I’m really happy for Bridget to be in the position that she is in,” Nurse said. “She has been very deserving of that and the new role she is in. She was awesome in the role she played in Minnesota the last couple of years, but I think she has played a heightened role on her European teams but because it’s just not as televised, people haven’t been able to see it.

“So I think it’s great that on this level in this stage of the WNBA she is getting the opportunity to really show what she can do, so nothing but happy for her,” Nurse said.

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Portland had five shooters in double figures in this one, none more than the 16 Emily Engstler led with just ahead of both Carleton and Carla Leite, who had 15 each.

Toronto’s best scorers on the night were young point guard Kiki Rice and veteran Marina Mabrey who had 19 each. Brittney Sykes settled for 10 in a second consecutive performance where she was well below her early season average.

Coming hot on the heels of a 100-72 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on the fourth and final game that trip that began out in Los Angeles, the Tempo have now lost two in a row for the first time all year.

Toronto, it should be pointed out, have been playing without three regulars in point guard Julie Allemand (groin strain), Temi Fagbenle (sprained AC joint) and Isabelle Harrison (right thumb dislocation) so they were shorthanded though Brondello refused to use that or any other one offered in her post game as an excuse.

Centre Nyara Sabally has also been slowed by a neck strain and neck sprain but she did play in Saturday’s game, though her minutes were somewhat managed.

The Tempo are back in action Wednesday in Chicago against the Sky.

mgatner@postmedia.com

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