The Connecticut Sun will visit the expansion Portland Fire on Monday night, May 18, with both teams bringing shaky defenses and a betting case built around points. Connecticut is still looking for its first win of the season, and Portland has already shown it can score enough to pull off an upset in its debut year.
The numbers point to a game played at a sprint. The Sun are allowing a league-high 98.5 points per game and rank 13th in the WNBA in defensive rating, while the Fire are giving up 98.0 points per game and sit 14th. Connecticut also plays at the fastest pace in the league, and Portland owns a 106.5 offensive rating, a combination that has helped push the Over to 6-1 in games involving both teams this season.
The matchup also features two Portland scorers who have started hot. Carla Leite has scored 18 or more points in each of her first two appearances for the Fire and is averaging 19.5 points per game on 12.5 shots per game. Bridget Carleton is adding 16.7 points per game while taking 12.3 shots per game, giving Portland two reliable scoring options as it tries to build on an upset win over the New York Liberty.
Leite is likely to return after recovering from an ankle injury, a boost for a Portland team that has already shown it can handle a big stage. The Sun, meanwhile, remain short-handed with L. Lacan out, and they enter the night needing both a defensive reset and a first victory to avoid an early-season hole that would grow harder to escape.
The clash is hard to frame as anything but a high-possession, high-scoring test. Portland has looked capable of turning loose games into wins, Connecticut has looked unable to slow anyone down, and the Over has been cashing with surprising frequency whenever either club takes the floor. Ed Scimia put it plainly: Carla Leite and Bridget Carleton should light up the Sun defense on the way to an Over.
