Bridget Carleton's 26-Point Bomb and Nobody in New York Is Ready For It
Holy smokes, folks, are you seeing what these expansion teams are doing in the WNBA? Last year, Golden State crashed the playoff party as a first-year franchise. Now, the Portland Fire are out here trying to become the second, and they are already making some serious noise. This team is 3-3 early on, and they are absolutely not backing down, especially when it comes to the New York Liberty. These upstart squads are giving the Liberty fits, and Portland is heading into their third meeting Monday night looking to keep the heat on.
Portland's Spark: Annoying the League, One Game at a Time
Look, the Fire aren't just here to participate. Portland's first pick in the expansion draft, Bridget Carleton, who was also the first player to sign with the team, laid it out plain: "We want to be annoying to play against." And let me tell you, they are delivering! Just look at May 12, when Carleton went off for 26 points, leading the Fire to a clutch two-point win over New York. Yeah, the Liberty got a little revenge two days later, holding Carleton to 11 points in an 18-point victory of their own, but that first game? It showed everyone what this Fire team is capable of. Plus, let's not forget Sarah Ashlee Barker, whose put-back at the buzzer gave them that incredible 98-96 win back on May 12. These rookies aren't scared, and the Liberty already know it.
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Meanwhile, things are a little bumpy for the Liberty right now. They've dropped two straight games, and get this, it's at the start of a season-long, seven-game homestand! Talk about rough. The good news for them, though, is they're getting some firepower back. Three-time All-Star Satou Sabally (cyst) and four-time All-Star Sabrina Ionescu (foot injury) have both returned to the lineup. Sabally came back strong, putting up a team-high 20 points in a 91-76 loss to Dallas on Sunday. Ionescu chipped in 11 points in that game, though she went scoreless in her 16 second-half minutes. She even admitted, "I came back a lot sooner than I was supposed to. I'm thankful." Sunday was actually the first pro game these former Oregon teammates and 2020 top two draft picks played together, with Sabally signing as a free agent from Phoenix. Now, the Liberty desperately want to end this skid.
So, here we go. Monday night, the Portland Fire roll into New York for their third showdown. Portland is trying to prove they're a legitimate threat to crash the playoffs, while the Liberty are fighting to stop their losing streak and integrate their returning stars. You know Bridget Carleton is ready to bring the heat again, and New York needs to be ready, or this expansion team might just burn them again.
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This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.