• NBA Play-offs: The National's complete coverage
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. Today, they discuss the Eastern Conference Finals, where LeBron James’s well-rested Cleveland Cavaliers take on the battle-tested Toronto Raptors.
• Catch up with all of The National's NBA play-offs coverage
Kevin Jeffers
Fun fact: The Cavaliers have never lost a play-off game with Kevin Love in the line-up.
Less fun fact: The Toronto Raptors barely beat the Indiana Pacers and the Miami Heat’s under-7-foot-team.
So my question to you, dear Jon, is: Why would someone want to live in Canada?
Jonathan Raymond
I’ve only been to Montreal once, but as far as my impressions of Canada go, it would be a magnificent place to live.
It would probably not be a great place, the Toronto area specifically, to spend the next week, however. ‘Cause the Raptors are gonna get hammered.
Look, we're not beyond being wrong – way wrong! – but doubting the sheer will of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and doubting the Kyle Lowry-and-DeMar DeRozan crawling-up-a-mountain offence are two different things entirely.
The Cavs have unveiled new looks – the "stand four dudes outside, leave everything open for LeBron, what're you gonna do about it?" offensive set being my favourite – and reached a level that is so far beyond the grittiest, guttiest heights of the Raptors, it's hard to believe they're playing the same sport. In a best-case scenario, throwing the rock to Jonas Valanciunas unrelentingly inside as a counter to the Cavaliers' three-point Niagara Falls would might shape the series into looking something like last year's Finals, ironically enough.
The obvious hitch with the Raptors being the Cavs to the Cavs’ new Warriors look in this scenario is the Raps don’t, uh, have a LeBron.
Toronto’s toast.
KJ
But hey! It’s officially the furthest the Raptors have ever made it. This season was a success. And they got there way sooner in their history than the Hawks did last year.
Unfortunately, they’re probably going to meet the same fate of those Hawks and get swept right out. They’ve had to play two straight 7-game series, and unlike in the West where they’ll have a four-day break at one point, the East Finals will be playing every other day through the end. The Cavs are as well-rested as any team at this point has any business of being, coming off two straight sweeps.
There’s always the chance that DeRozan and Lowry could go off in the same game for once, but I do -- oh, never mind the Cavs just hit a three-pointer while writing that. This is over.
JR
Yeah. Also I just remembered they won’t even have Valanciunas.
Cavs in 4.
KJ
I’ll say Cavs in 5 because I refuse for any team to go through an entire conference post-season undefeated.
What’s funny is I thought the East would be competitive this year, since the regular season was a little more balanced.
Nope. This is all Cavs. LeBron is still the king of the East.
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TOUCH RULES
Touch is derived from rugby league. Teams consist of up to 14 players with a maximum of six on the field at any time.
Teams can make as many substitutions as they want during the 40 minute matches.
Similar to rugby league, the attacking team has six attempts - or touches - before possession changes over.
A touch is any contact between the player with the ball and a defender, and must be with minimum force.
After a touch the player performs a “roll-ball” - similar to the play-the-ball in league - stepping over or rolling the ball between the feet.
At the roll-ball, the defenders have to retreat a minimum of five metres.
A touchdown is scored when an attacking player places the ball on or over the score-line.
Company profile
Name: One Good Thing
Founders: Bridgett Lau and Micheal Cooke
Based in: Dubai
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 5 employees
Stage: Looking for seed funding
Investors: Self-funded and seeking external investors
500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Mobile phone packages comparison
if you go
The flights
Emirates flies to Delhi with fares starting from around Dh760 return, while Etihad fares cost about Dh783 return. From Delhi, there are connecting flights to Lucknow.
Where to stay
It is advisable to stay in Lucknow and make a day trip to Kannauj. A stay at the Lebua Lucknow hotel, a traditional Lucknowi mansion, is recommended. Prices start from Dh300 per night (excluding taxes).
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Tips for used car buyers
- Choose cars with GCC specifications
- Get a service history for cars less than five years old
- Don’t go cheap on the inspection
- Check for oil leaks
- Do a Google search on the standard problems for your car model
- Do your due diligence. Get a transfer of ownership done at an official RTA centre
- Check the vehicle’s condition. You don’t want to buy a car that’s a good deal but ends up costing you Dh10,000 in repairs every month
- Validate warranty and service contracts with the relevant agency and and make sure they are valid when ownership is transferred
- If you are planning to sell the car soon, buy one with a good resale value. The two most popular cars in the UAE are black or white in colour and other colours are harder to sell
Tarek Kabrit, chief executive of Seez, and Imad Hammad, chief executive and co-founder of CarSwitch.com
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
