Throughout the NBA play-offs, The National's resident NBA dudes Jonathan Raymond and Kevin Jeffers will be breaking down the key talking points of the night before, plus looking around the scope of the league. Here are our NBA Play-off takeaways.
Friday scores
Cleveland Cavaliers 121, Atlanta Hawks 108 (Cavaliers lead 3-0)
San Antonio Spurs 100, Oklahoma City Thunder 96 (Spurs lead 2-1)
• Related: Space Jam 2, Thunder-Spurs – Listen to the podcast | Full play-offs coverage
We’ve seen this movie before
There was something darkly ironic about Oklahoma City’s final points in Game 3.
The possession went like this: Dion Waiters inbounds to Russell Westbrook, who gives the ball to Kevin Durant coming out to the three-point line off a pindown screen, who in turn gives the ball right back. Westbrook loses his defender around a screen set by Serge Ibaka. He drives down to the left block and throws it back to Ibaka out on the three-point line, where he fires crosscourt to Waiters.
Waiters attacks Tony Parker, driving into the middle of the floor, and lets fly an unsightly falling jumper, but it goes in off the backboard for two points.
A contested Dion Waiters fallback floater is nobody’s concept of an ideal shot, but the possession was probably the Thunder’s most active of the fourth quarter. They moved the ball and spread the floor and found a reasonable look. It was decent team basketball, all in all.
It also took more time than they could afford to use any longer. Cutting the lead to 98-96, with five seconds left, they could only foul San Antonio, watch Kawhi Leonard drain a couple free throws, and give it to Westbrook for a final, wild trying-to-draw-a-four-point-play heave.
Serge Ibaka had hit a three to give them their first lead of the game roughly eight minutes earlier, at 78-77. Between that and Waiters’ final points, the Thunder possessions went as follows:
7:11 Westbrook makes three
6:31 Durant makes two
5:50 Waiters misses three
5:18 Durant makes two
4:37 Westbrook misses three
4:00 Durant misses two
3:25 Westbrook turnover
2:56 Durant makes two
2:28 Westbrook makes two
1:54 Westbrook turnover
1:37 Durant turnover
1:13 Westbrook misses three
1:08 Durant misses three
1:08 Westbrook makes two (and 1)
0:46 Westbrook makes two free throws
Combined over that stretch the two Oklahoma City superstars went 5-for-9 and scored 16 points. The rest of the team went 0-1 with zero points. It is not atypical for Oklahoma City to play this way at the end of games.
It is not, by any means, bad basketball.
It is just, we saw yet again, not-quite-as-good-as-the-Spurs basketball.
Durant and Westbrook are among the few best in the game, their abilities undeniable. The Thunder inevitably revolve completely around them. And it is inevitably not quite good enough to beat the very best teams.
Anything you can three I can three better
It looked there, for a minute, like the Hawks would make a series of this. The pristine ball movement and team defence that could in theory trouble the more static Cavs was, for once in actual practice, doing that.
But the flaw in that theory lies in the assumption of a static Cavs. They are very much not anymore.
They are a floor-spacing, passing, three-point-raining marvel.
What they did in the fourth quarter – stack the outside with four three-point shooters and let LeBron James command the middle – is beautifully simple and maybe unstoppable.
Kyrie Irving, JR Smith, Channing Frye and Kevin Love are dangerous enough from three to keep defenders drawn outside. Sag off them, and LeBron will work the ball to them for an open look, which they are hitting with increasing regularity.
Keep them all manned outside, and LeBron will beat his man one-on-one for easy buckets inside. What the heck do you do?
The Hawks don’t know. They’ve lost ten straight to the Cavaliers going back to their sweep at the hands of Cleveland in last year’s play-offs.
The Cavs, meanwhile, have the highest points per 100 possessions (118.7) of the play-offs – by seven (Golden State are at 111.7). They have the highest three-point percentage (46.6). They shoot threes most frequently (36.1 per game) by a long, long way. They have the second-highest assists per 100 (18.9).
They have hit upon a formula that – forget Atlanta, or Toronto or Miami – should be sending shudders down the spines of Golden State and San Antonio.
Saturday’s games (UAE time)
Toronto Raptors at Miami Heat, Game 3 (1am, series tied 1-1)
Golden State Warriors at Portland Trail Blazers, Game 3 (4.30am, Warriors lead 2-0)
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Super heroes
Iron Man
Reduced risk of dementia
Alcohol consumption could be an issue
Hulk
Cardiac disease, stroke and dementia from high heart rate
Spider-Man
Agility reduces risk of falls
Increased risk of obesity and mental health issues
Black Panther
Vegetarian diet reduces obesity
Unknown risks of potion drinking
Black Widow
Childhood traumas increase risk of mental illnesses
Thor
He's a god
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2 (Benzema 13', Kroos 28')
Barcelona 1 (Mingueza 60')
Red card: Casemiro (Real Madrid)
