WNBA · Final · Fri, Sep 18

Portland Fire at Golden State Valkyries: projection vs. actual, September 18, 2026

Saved Courtside pregame forecasts beside the verified final result. Each forecast below was captured before this game tipped off.

Portland Fire66–Golden State Valkyries82

How the saved forecasts compared

6 comparable players

Across the players with both a saved pregame forecast and a final result, the average absolute miss was 4.2 minutes and 6.7 points. These are descriptive results for this game, not a model accuracy guarantee.

Largest minutes difference

Emily Engstler played 20.0 minutes against 28.5 projected, a 8.5-minute gap in this sample.

Closest points forecast

Kaila Charles scored 7 points against 6.3 projected, a 0.7-point gap.

Courtside saved pregame minutes and points compared with official final results
Player	Minutes Proj / Actual	Difference	Points Proj / Actual	Difference
Carla LeitePortland Fire · StarterForecast saved Sep 18, 9:35 PM EDT · Model gameplay-rotation-observer.v1	29.0 / 27.2	-1.8	18.8 / 12	-6.8
Emily EngstlerPortland Fire · StarterForecast saved Sep 18, 9:35 PM EDT · Model gameplay-rotation-observer.v1	28.5 / 20.0	-8.5	14.1 / 3	-11.1
Megan DiLeoPortland Fire · StarterForecast saved Sep 18, 9:35 PM EDT · Model gameplay-rotation-observer.v1	25.3 / 23.7	-1.6	14.3 / 8	-6.3
Kaila CharlesGolden State Valkyries · StarterForecast saved Sep 18, 9:35 PM EDT · Model gameplay-rotation-observer.v1	19.4 / 25.3	+5.9	6.3 / 7	+0.7
Kayla ThorntonGolden State Valkyries · StarterForecast saved Sep 18, 9:35 PM EDT · Model gameplay-rotation-observer.v1	18.0 / 24.7	+6.7	5.0 / 13	+8.0
Veronica BurtonGolden State Valkyries · StarterForecast saved Sep 18, 9:35 PM EDT · Model gameplay-rotation-observer.v1	24.9 / 25.6	+0.7	11.1 / 4	-7.1

Method

The clock matters.

We use each player's saved pre-tip forecast and compare it with a validated final box score. The table includes only players for whom both records are available. “Difference” is actual minus projected. Average absolute miss measures the size of those differences without cancellations.

Missing forecasts are not filled in after the game. The recap does not claim that the displayed sample represents every player or every Courtside prediction.

See the combined WNBA projection track record

Compare this game with other verified meetings between these teams .

Browse more verified game recaps