Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire entered the WNBA as expansion teams at the same time, leading to frequent comparisons about roster age, play style, and early results. The Tempo began with a 3-3 record and sit ninth, while the Fire are 2-3 and sit 12th. Toronto has one of the league’s older rosters, while Portland has a younger group. Despite fan and prognosticator comparisons, players and coaches emphasize focusing on their own performance and scouting opponents for the next game. Kia Nurse said she was not tracking Portland’s record and only considered it when preparing for the matchup. Sandy Brondello echoed a one-game-at-a-time approach. Portland then defeated Toronto 99-80 in their first meeting.
"“We're only concerned about ourselves, and the only (other) teams we're concerned about is who's on our scouting report the night before a game,” Kia Nurse said after Thursday's loss to the Minnesota Lynx, noting how she wasn't even aware of the Fire's record to that point, and wouldn't be until prepping for Saturday's matchup after the Tempo returned to Toronto following a four-game road trip. “Ultimately, coming into this season, we all are going into this season with goals ... we want to be successful early on, win early on.”"
"Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello echoed that sentiment: “We're not comparing ourselves, we're just trying to be the best team we can be and focusing on one game at a time.” So, that next “one game” arrived as the Tempo hosted the Fire on Saturday for the first matchup between the expansion cousins, and Round 1 went to Portland."
"Both squads have gotten off to modest starts, the Tempo sit ninth at 3-3 and the Fire are 12th at 2-3, which both reaching relatively similar results - as far as wins and losses go - by different methods. Toronto boasts the fifth-oldest roster in the WNBA, while the Fire are among the youngest. But make no mistake, while these comparisons are being made ad nauseam by fans and prognosticators, the respective organizations aren't following suit."
"The Fire picked up a 99-80 win in front of yet another packed crowd at the Coca Cola Coliseum. And while the story coming out of Toronto's blowout loss on Thursday was the abundance of threes the team took and missed (12-of-41), in Brondello's mind, the defence, or lack thereof, wa"
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