BEAVERTON, Ore. (KPTV) – The Portland Fire held practice at the Nike campus ahead of their next game against the reigning WNBA champions, the Las Vegas Aces.
The 44-game WNBA regular season is full of ebbs and flows, and right now the Fire have hit a low with a three-game losing skid as three teams with the best records in the West are next on the schedule.
The only way to get through it is to just do it.
“I love this campus here. It’s also just, like, the innovation side of Nike. We could access to some really cool, interesting people being around here,” said head coach Alex Sarama.
The Portland Fire are practice nomads until their facility in Hillsboro opens up this August. In the meantime, Nike will do.
“I had never been here before,” said Karlie Samuelson. “We practiced the other week, so it is nice. I mean, you guys see it, the beautiful, natural lighting in here, and just the vibe is great. It’s really special to be in Portland, like where the Nike headquarters are.”
Back-to-back days in Beaverton has been the most work the team has had together between games in awhile.
“Kind of funny, we were all talking about it,” Megan Gustafson said. “We were like, this is the first practice we’ve had, like three weeks an actual practice, and having a couple of them has been really good, especially because we’ve had a couple losses now. And I think we need this time to just get back to court with basketball. What we’re good at.”
Gustafson earned a championship ring with Las Vegas last season after two years of backing up the league MVP, A’ja Wilson.
She now has a starting role in Portland and the defending WNBA champs roll into the Rose City.
“I have lots of love for A’ja and Vegas, so, definitely gonna be a challenge, obviously,” Gustafson said. “She’s the best player in the world for reason, so we’re gonna try our best, and we’re gonna come up with a good, just touch the game plan, hopefully.”
Sarama’s game plans are up against as these Commissioner’s Cup games are coming hit after hit.
Vegas will be followed by the Dallas Wings in town on Saturday before a Monday trip to Minnesota to face the Lynx. All three are at the top of the standings in the Western Conference.
“That’s the WNBA, teams go on eight game win streaks, eight game losing streaks, Samuelson said. ”It depends on who’s healthy, it depends on who you play in those streaks. Obviously, we got some good teams coming up, so, yeah it’s about getting better ourselves. So, wins and losses, yes, but we just gotta stay the course.”
Portland returns to the Fire Pit on Thursday against the Aces in a game you can watch on Rose City SportsNet at 7 p.m.
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