SAN ANTONIO // The Portland Trail Blazers erased an early 19-point deficit to post a 95-83 road win over the ailing San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
The victory was Portland's first in San Antonio since 2002, ending an 11-game losing streak, and pulled the team into a tie for third in the Western Conference with four games remaining.
Brandon Roy, the shooting guard, had a team-high 26 points and LaMarcus Aldridge scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half as the Blazers earned their 50th win of the year. "Fifty wins says a lot about our young team. It shows that we're moving forward," Roy said.
"The question mark about our team was can we beat a top team on the road. To do it in April when the West is so tight is big, but we have to build on it."
Roger Mason led the Spurs, who have the same 50-28 record as Portland, with 18 points in their second game since learning they would miss their Argentine guard Manu Ginobili for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.
The health of fellow All-Star Tim Duncan was also in doubt after the forward struggled to just four points and five rebounds and kept out down the stretch because of recurring knee problems.
Duncan attempted to get back in the game in the fourth quarter but the San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich told him: "I can't do it Tim - you can't move out there. I don't want a hero I want a healthy guy."
Point guard Tony Parker, who has carried the load for the Spurs this season, had 17 points and seven assists as his team fell into a tie with the Houston Rockets and Blazers in the West.
San Antonio led 39-20 with 9:45 left in the second but Portland upped their game and closed the half with a 27-10 run to pull within two by half-time. "We have that kind of never-quit attitude," Roy said. "We knew they would try to hit us hard early but we kept playing and this was a huge win for us."
The Blazers, already assured of their first play-off appearance since 2003, are fighting for a top- four spot in the conference and home court advantage in the first round.
Elsewhere, the Cleveland Cavaliers eased closer to matching the NBA's all-time best home record with another win at the Quicken Loans Arena, this time beating the Washington Wizards 98-86.
LeBron James scored 21 points before spending most of the fourth quarter on the bench with all the hard work done. Mo Williams scored 14 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 13 rebounds.
The Cavs are now two home wins short of the 40-1 record set by the Boston Celtics in 1986. With the win they also became the first team in NBA history to have two 15-game winning streaks at home in the same season.
Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks claimed the final play-off spot in the Western Conference with a 130-101 victory over the Utah Jazz. Dirk Nowitzki led the way with 31 points to move Dallas into a tie with Utah for seventh place.
Joe Johnson scored 30 points and was key down the stretch as the Atlanta Hawks also helped their home-court advantage chances with a 113-105 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Keith Bogans scored 22 points as the Bucks rallied to tie the game with 1:51 remaining, but a couple of key buckets from Johnson helped keep them at bay.
Danny Granger scored 29 points and the Indiana Pacers had their highest point total and margin of victory of the season as they beat the Toronto Raptors 130-101.
The Boston Celtics overcame an early 10-point deficit and a last-minute scare to beat the New Jersey Nets 106-104 after a four-day rest. Rajon Rondo paced the Celtics with 31 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
Hedo Turkoglu scored 20 points and Dwight Howard added 14 as the Orlando Magic rallied to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 81-78, while the Phoenix Suns survived a late rally to beat the New Orleans Hornets 105-100 victory over the Hornets. Steve Nash made six free throws in the final 42 seconds as part of a 24 point tally.
Richard Hamilton scored 22 points and Rasheed Wallace had 14 points and 12 rebounds as the Detroit Pistons rolled past the New York Knicks 113-86 to move into a tie for seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
The Carmelo Anthony scored 31 points as the Denver Nuggets won for the eighth time in a row with a 122-112 success over the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Minnesota Timberwolves won 105-97 against the Golden State Warriors, who again could only call on three players on their bench due to injuries.
* Reuters
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Quick facts on cancer
- Cancer is the second-leading cause of death worldwide, after cardiovascular diseases
- About one in five men and one in six women will develop cancer in their lifetime
- By 2040, global cancer cases are on track to reach 30 million
- 70 per cent of cancer deaths occur in low and middle-income countries
- This rate is expected to increase to 75 per cent by 2030
- At least one third of common cancers are preventable
- Genetic mutations play a role in 5 per cent to 10 per cent of cancers
- Up to 3.7 million lives could be saved annually by implementing the right health
strategies
- The total annual economic cost of cancer is $1.16 trillion
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 240hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 390Nm at 3,000rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh122,745
On sale: now
ABU DHABI ORDER OF PLAY
Starting at 10am:
Daria Kasatkina v Qiang Wang
Veronika Kudermetova v Annet Kontaveit (10)
Maria Sakkari (9) v Anastasia Potapova
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova v Ons Jabeur (15)
Donna Vekic (16) v Bernarda Pera
Ekaterina Alexandrova v Zarina Diyas
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Switch%20Foods%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Edward%20Hamod%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Plant-based%20meat%20production%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2034%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%246.5%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20round%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Seed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Based%20in%20US%20and%20across%20Middle%20East%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 11.12L/100km
Price: From Dh796,600
On sale: now
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
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Takreem Awards winners 2021
Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)
Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)
Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)
Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)
Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)
Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)
Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet
Price, base: Dh429,090
Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
