The Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire insist they aren’t paying special attention to each other.
But as expansion sisters, they will be inextricably linked and compared to each other forever — whether they like it or not.
Through seven games, each team is hovering around .500 with the Tempo at 3-4 and the Fire at 4-3.
On Saturday, the Fire came to Toronto, providing an opportune time to compare the WNBA’s newest teams.
Judging by those 40 minutes, the Fire — who won 99-80 — have the early edge. But early is the operative word there, and the way each roster was built would suggest Toronto has more immediate success.
Still, over in Portland, there is at least one player who will admit to keeping half an eye on the Tempo: Canadian national team star and Chatham, Ont., native Bridget Carleton.
“To have a real game here, it hasn’t really sunk in,” Carleton said. “Just really, really cool that it’s real. Like, Toronto had a team, Canada has a team, it’s pretty awesome.”
Portland Fire beat Toronto Tempo 99-80. Bridget Carleton of Chatham, Ont., finishes with 15 points.
Carleton only requested 20 tickets for the game, but she estimated over 50 friends and family showed up — and that’s excluding youth basketball groups from her hometown who were also there to cheer her on.
And while Carleton reminded multiple times that she is not from Toronto — “I’m a tourist too” — she did take her Fire teammates for dinner at the Thai restaurant Pai, which had Megan Gustafson impressed.
“I think that’s a big part of expansion too is wanting to build chemistry because you kind of get thrown to the fire with completely new teammates,” Carleton said. “But our coaches really prioritized getting to know each other, building connections on and off the court.”
In Toronto, similar team-building has been going on since training camp, with players showing up to Toronto Sceptres and Raptors games together. They just returned from a four-game road trip, which can only fast-track chemistry.
On Monday, rookie Kiki Rice threw out the first pitch at the Blue Jays game.
Fire head coach Alex Sarama said Carleton’s leadership is part of what made her attractive as the top pick of the expansion draft.
If there was a rivalry between the Tempo and Fire, it’d have started right there.
With that selection, Portland stepped up to the plate and stole Carleton from right under the Tempo’s noses.
Minnesota Lynx defeat Toronto Tempo 100-72. The Tempo finish their first-ever road trip with a 2-2 record.
Of course, the Tempo allowed for that possibility by choosing the better entry draft pick vs. expansion when they won coin flip between the clubs.
In any case, Carleton is thriving in the Pacific Northwest. The Canadian’s 15.6 points, 11.6 field-goal attempts and 2.3 steals per game are all easily career highs as she is handed the keys to Year 1 for the Fire.
“Everyone has a voice on this team and I think it’s been really fun to just get to know everyone and I’m OK with stepping into that role if that’s what I need to do,” she said.
Tempo still establishing identity
For the Tempo, the loss to the Fire wasn’t necessarily a microcosm of their season to date, which has had more than its fair share of bright moments. But it was a spotlight on some early weaknesses.
We have still yet to see Toronto at full strength. Isabelle Harrison was injured in training camp (right thumb dislocation) and has yet to play, while Temi Fagbenle (sprained AC joint) has appeared in just one game. Neither player seems close to returning.
The loss of those two bigs has been beyond noticeable, with the Tempo sitting 13th in rebounding and 14th in opponent points in the paint for the season.
Both played out in the loss to Portland, with the Fire constantly breaking the Tempo down in the pick-and-roll when they needed a bucket and facing little resistance at the net.
Playing in the second game of their inaugural WNBA season, the Toronto Tempo beat Seattle Storm 86-73 for their franchise’s first-ever victory. Marina Mabrey finishes with a game-high 26 points, including six 3-pointers.
On the other hand, you can see the outline of head coach Sandy Brondello’s preferred playing style coming to fruition.
The Tempo built a nine-point lead in the second quarter against the Fire largely on the back of transition offence. Toronto’s 16 fast-break points were one off a season high, but 10 came in the first half.
For the season, Toronto sits second in the league with 30.4 three-point attempts per game, third in fast-break points per game (11.4), fourth in steals (7.7) and tied for fourth in points off turnovers (16.6).
It’s not hard to see how Brondello is encouraging aggressive defence and high-powered offence, with 44.9 per cent of the Tempo’s field-goal attempts coming from three-point range, which leads the WNBA.
“I think we got away from our identity,” Brondello said of the swiftly blown nine-point lead. “Our defence is very average at the moment. We got to find solutions for that.”
“We’re facing some adversity, and sometimes you need to get slapped in the face to make some change and be better.”
The eventual returns of Harrison and Fagbenle should certainly help — as will sure-handed guard Julie Allemand, who has missed four games with a groin strain but is ramping back up, per the team.
Fans pour in
After two straight sellouts to begin the season, the Tempo returned home in time for the rainy Saturday affair against Portland.
Actually, rainy might be underselling it. The downpour was unrelenting all day — and, to boot, some transit in the city was down, too.
Yet the 8,210-person sellout streak extended to three, and the building appeared close to full in time for tip-off.
There were excuses aplenty for the hype to die down for this game, but — at least judging by attendance — it’s as high as ever.
Canada Basketball check-in
- Two-time reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is busy battling France’s Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs in the West final with his Oklahoma City Thunder. Perhaps, a measure of revenge is in order for the Paris Olympics, where Wemby and France eliminated Canada in the quarterfinals. The Canadian national team will head to SGA’s hometown of Hamilton, Ont., in July for 2027 World Cup qualifiers against Puerto Rico and Jamaica.
- Next month, during a FIBA international window (June 28-July 4), the women’s senior team — WNBA players included — will convene for a training camp as they begin to regroup from missing out on their own World Cup, which is set for September.
- A transitioning women’s 3×3 team showed it can still be dominant when it won the World Tour stop in Shanghai earlier in May. With Michelle Plouffe having retired, the quartet included twin Katherine Plouffe, veteran Paige Crozon and newcomers Merissah Russell and Tara Wallack.
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