A'ja Wilson's Las Vegas Aces Outshine Portland Fire, 105-89
Portland's fourth straight loss was an insightful one, as the sport's biggest star put on a textbook performance.
In upset wins over Indiana and Toronto earlier this Spring, the Portland Fire taught the W what Alex Sarama’s system is capable of.
Last night, in a 105-89 loss to the Las Vegas Aces, the defending WNBA champions taught Portland a valuable lesson in star power.
Sin City superstar A’ja Wilson was a tour de force: in 36 minutes, the best player of her generation racked up 32 points on 50% field goal shooting, with five rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks. As the game went on, her dominance in the paint demanded Portland’s full attention, opening up space for point guard Chelsea Gray, who scored 29 points thanks to 9 made three pointers. Behind their efforts, the Aces snatched the lead shortly before halftime and never looked back.
Notably, Portland star point guard Carla Leite was a game time decision, with the Fire coaches prepared to start to Euro veteran Teja Oblak. The second year French playmaker persevered through injury, earning 18 points and 8 assists in 28 minutes.
Las Vegas outrebounded Portland 42-19 on the night, and that lopsided statline featured prominently in postgame comments from Portland wing Bridget Carleton:
“Yeah, [Alex] calls it high school box out. [It is] none of that, because when we’re little we’re taught to have them behind us and box them out, clear the space, but we talk about frontal hits. I think we’re undersized a lot of the time, so it’s about gang rebounding. It’s not just one person’s job. It’s not the five whose under the basket all the time. Like, guards have to get in there. So that’s a technique that he is teaching us, but at the end of the day, there’s no X’s and O’s to solve for rebounding. Like, it’s about heart. It’s about wanting to get the rebound. It’s about getting the dirty ones, and just flying through the air and having some pride in that.”
Carleton scored 13 in the losing effort, narrowly behind Leite’s team-leading 18 points, and starting center Megan Gustafson’s 17 point tally.
The defeat extends Portland’s losing streak, and drops the Fire win-loss record to 6-8. The Rose City’s expansion team now sits 10th in the WNBA standings, good for 6th place in the Western Conference, ahead of a home matchup tomorrow night against Paige Bueckers’ Dallas Wings. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 PM PST.
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Matt Bagley is a professional sportswriter and broadcaster with a passion for women’s sports. Outside of work, he cherishes quality time with his birth family, his chosen family, and one very pesky house panther.
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