They were young and athletic and scary. The Oklahoma Thunder met the Los Angels Lakers in the first round of the play-offs last season and put fear into the defending champions.
Every member of the Thunder seemed to have coiled springs for legs. When the Lakers won that first-round series in six games their relief was tangible.
A year later, the Thunder are again looking like a team other's should be wary of. Still young and athletic, they have added a physical presence with the addition of Kendrick Perkins and Nazr Mohammed.
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More
• Kyle Lowry triple-double moves Rockets on the cusp of play-off berth
• Clippers owner Sterling proves himself to be not so esteemed
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The Thunder have continued to develop and mature and have the makings of a team that could make a real post-season run.
"We have a lot of athletic, versatile defenders," Nick Collison, the Thunder forward said. "We keep it tight in the paint."
The Thunder are currently the NBA's hottest team, having won six consecutive games.
A year ago, their rise behind the emerging superstar duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook almost caught every one off guard. They were the league's new darlings and finished 50-32 to capture the eighth and final play-off spot in the West.
This year more was expected, and if they have stumbled during their metamorphosis, they are now again looking like a young team coming into their own.
"A lot of people have put us at a level that teams don't get overnight, but we were put there overnight," Scott Brooks, the Thunder coach, said. "We're a team that is continuing to evolve. This is not the team you will see in a few years, it should get better. … All of the young guys have to get better."
The Thunder remain the league's second-youngest team after the Clippers, but at 45-23, are in fourth place in the West and on course to host a first-round play-off series. They are particularly tough at home (24-9) where they play before a raucous crowd.
"We have come a long way, [and] it wasn't that long ago that no one cared about us and no one really respected us as players," Durant said. "That has changed, but what we do every day hasn't - we're still just trying to work hard, because that's how we have been able to get better."
Next year they expect to be even better. And this year, they may already be the Lakers' greatest threat in the West.
REVIEW
Players of the week
• Dwight Howard, Orlando. The game's best centre averaged 23 points, 18.3 rebounds, 3.3 blocks and 2.3 steals per game, shooting 62.9 per cent.
• Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas. The Mavericks' lone great player, below, had another dominating week, averaging 28.3 points and 11 boards per game.
• LeBron James, Miami. Averaged 29 points and 6.5 rebounds in four games.
Teams of the week
• Los Angeles Lakers. They have gone 11-1 since the
All-Star break.
• Portland. The Trail Blazers went 3-0 to move ahead of New Orleans for sixth place in the West.
Duds of the week
• Paul Pierce, Boston. Shot just 28.6 per cent from the field and scored only three-of-16 three-pointers.
• Daniel Gibson, Cleveland. He averaged only 10 points and 1.3 assists in the week, shooting 36 per cent.
• Washington Wizards. A team going nowhere has sped up the journey. The Wizards went 0-3 in the week and have lost six in a row.
PREVIEW
Games of the week
• Boston at New York, tonight. Carmelo Anthony's addition to the Knicks adds spice to the old "Boston v New York" thing.
• San Antonio at Portland, Friday. The Spurs have quietly played the best basketball in the league all season but get a quality road opponent in the surging Trail Blazers.
• Chicago at Milwaukee, Saturday. The Bulls will try to solidify their play-off spot on the road against the Bucks, who are out to improve theirs.
sports@thenational.ae
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THE BIO
Age: 30
Favourite book: The Power of Habit
Favourite quote: "The world is full of good people, if you cannot find one, be one"
Favourite exercise: The snatch
Favourite colour: Blue
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.
More from our Neighbourhood series:
England ODI squad
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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.”
