It’s hard to put yourself in Toronto Tempo Sandy Brondello’s shoes. Just two games remain in the season, and she will head home early. This will be the first time in her 13 seasons that the WNBA head coach will miss the playoffs. While that fact Brondello had made peace with, Sunday’s humiliating loss to the New York Liberty tested her patience, prompting her to say some harsh words to her players.
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“I think we’re very intentional about what kind of players we want to bring in and their character. What we do is hard. So if you can’t embrace hard, I mean, you probably shouldn’t be in this league.”
“There were only a few games where I was a little disappointed with our effort, and this is one of them in the second half.”
“Overall, I think their resiliency, their togetherness, has been commendable, and that’s all you can ask for in a season with so much adversity,” Brondello said after the 37-point, 106-69 loss to the Liberty.
The Liberty outscored Toronto in all four quarters and led the game 91 percent of the time. The Tempo simply didn’t seem to be able to contain the Liberty that shot 57% from the field and 43% from the 3-point line. New York recorded 10 more rebounds and 14 more assists in 40 minutes. Moreover, as a team, Toronto recorded just one block in the game.
FIBA World Cup MVP Breanna Stewart continued her dominance in the WNBA, leading her team with 27 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.
For a team that is playing in its inaugural season, a lot was not expected of the Tempo. However, with Brondello heading the coaching staff, expectations are warranted. For over a decade, she has preached deep on-court collaboration between her players and hardcore effort. On Sunday, she saw crucial factors missing from her players.
“There were only a few games where I was a little disappointed with our effort, and this is one of them in the second half,” Brondello continued. “Overall, I think their resiliency, their togetherness, has been commendable, and that’s all you can ask for in a season with so much adversity.”
It has certainly not been an easy inaugural season for Toronto. They are already missing their top stars like Brittney Sykes, Aneesah Morrow, and Marina Mabrey with injuries. Lately, Brondello has had to rely on her reserve players.
On the bright side, the absence of the top stars has allowed high-potential players to shine. Rookie Kiki Rice and the Lithuanian star Laura Juskaite have used the new opportunity in their favor. In the last 8 games, Rice has averaged 17.1 points, and Juskaite has averaged 12.8 points and 6.8 rebounds. On Sunday, Juskaite scored a team-high 28 points.
However, it also highlighted the holes that the Tempo’s roster has. They lack defensive pieces both in the paint and at the perimeter. Aside from Rice and Juskaite, none of the players even touched the 6-point mark. Toronto lacks depth on both ends, and perhaps the 2027 WNBA draft will be able to address that. But even there, they have competition.
The Sunday game marked the last home game for the Toronto Tempo this season. They will play their last two games in Chicago against the Sky and in Connecticut against the Sun. Interestingly, if the Tempo lose both games, they will tie with the Sun in the regular-season record. More importantly, they will tie with the Sun at the top to get the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft.
Regardless of how the Tempo has played in their inaugural season, their fans have been among the best in the league. They have had their team’s back since the start of the season. With Brondello leading the pack, it would be hard to deny them a playoff spot in the near future. They are currently ranked 13th in the league with an 11-31 record, just ahead of the Sun (10-32) and the Seattle Storm (8-35).