Aces game day
Who: Las Vegas Aces (15-6, 10-4 Western Conference) at Portland Fire (9-12, 3-5 Western Conference)
Where: Moda Center, Portland, Oregon
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
TV: KMCC-TV (Channel 34)
Bottom line: The Portland Fire host the Las Vegas Aces after Carla Leite scored 20 points in the Portland Fire’s 77-72 win against the Seattle Storm.
The Fire have gone 3-5 against Western Conference opponents. Portland has a 3-1 record in one-possession games. The Aces have gone 10-4 against Western Conference opponents. Las Vegas is third in the WNBA with 27.0 defensive rebounds per game led by A’ja Wilson averaging 7.4.
Portland is shooting 43.6% from the field this season, 0.2 percentage points lower than the 43.8% Las Vegas allows to opponents. Las Vegas has shot at a 48.6% rate from the field this season, 2.1 percentage points above the 46.5% shooting opponents of Portland have averaged.
The teams meet for the second time this season. The Aces won 105-89 in the last meeting on June 11. Wilson led the Aces with 32 points, and Leite led the Fire with 18 points.
Top performers: Bridget Carleton is averaging 13.9 points and 1.7 steals for the Fire. Leite is averaging 15.5 points over the last 10 games. Chelsea Gray is averaging 12.5 points and 7.3 assists for the Aces. Wilson is averaging 20.4 points over the last 10 games.
Last 10 games: Fire — 3-7, averaging 85.7 points, 32.8 rebounds, 21.1 assists, 7.2 steals and 4.4 blocks per game while shooting 41.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 97.2 points per game. Aces — 7-3, averaging 89.7 points, 32.3 rebounds, 21.3 assists, 8.0 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 48.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 87.5 points.
Injuries: Fire — Karlie Samuelson: day to day (finger). Aces — Janiah Barker: day to day (leg), A’ja Wilson: day to day (leg), Dana Evans: day to day (leg).
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
