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.
Saturday’s scores
• Toronto 95, Miami 91 | Raptors lead series 2-1 | Game 4 on Tuesday, 4am
• Portland 120, Golden State 108 | Warriors lead series 2-1 | Game 4 on Tuesday, 6.30am
A Dame to die for
It’s easy to sit back and call the Portland Trail Blazers the biggest surprise of the 2015-16 NBA season. They lost two of their best players, LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews, in free agency, traded Nic Batum to the Hornets, and essentially hit the reset button. Not much was expected of them this year.
But instead of tanking, they stayed competitive in the ultra-competitve West to return to the play-offs, and even knocked out the favoured Los Angeles Clippers to advance.
Yeah, it’s easy to say all that was a surprise, but it ignores one basic fact – you can’t just hit reset on your franchise when you already have a bona-fide superstar, and the Blazers have one in 4th-year guard Damian Lillard.
If you said Draymond Green would score 37 to go with 9 rebounds and 8 assists, and Klay Thompson would score 35, and the Warriors would still lose, I’d say that would be a surprise. But Lillard was just too much, dropping 40 points on the top-seeded Warriors in the win. Now down 2-1 instead of 3-0, the Blazers might have a puncher’s chance in the series.
Lillard scored 25 of his 40 in the first half, including a couple of un-guardable three-pointers late to keep the Blazers from giving up another fourth-quarter lead (they scored a paltry 6 points in the final 5:21). The best players in the league put up big numbers, sure, but the truly special ones keep their teams afloat in crunch time of the biggest games. Lillard did just that in Game 3.
Stephen Curry sat out again for Golden State, but could be healthy enough to come back for Games 4 or 5. You have to wonder if the Portland win expedites Curry’s recovery timetable. Golden State have proven twice they can handle Portland without him, but another Blazers win could change that.
On Saturday, though, I doubt even a full-strength Warriors team could’ve slowed down Lillard and the Blazers. They absolutely belong here, playing among the NBA’s best teams.
About time
Welcome to the play-offs, Kyle Lowry.
That the Toronto Raptors are this deep into the Eastern Conference play-offs while their best player has been virtually invisible (only 31 per cent shooting before Saturday) should be encouraging. Surely at some point the 2-time All-Star would wake up and start doing what he’s supposed to do, and the Raptors would look like the 56-win team from the regular season.
He finally broke out in Saturday’s Game 3 win over Miami, scoring 33 (29 in the second half) while putting the team on his back in the fourth.
Both teams lost their starting centres to injury – Miami’s Hassan Whiteside injured his knee early in the second quarter, and Toronto’s Jonas Valanciunas injured his ankle in the third. It was apparent this game would have to be decided by a couple of superstar guards.
Enter vintage Dwyane Wade, who couldn’t miss in an 18-point third quarter as Miami erased a 9-point halftime deficit. Wade finished with 38, and showed he’s still capable of taking over a game by himself.
But Lowry was the deciding factor, scoring 5 straight late in the fourth at one point, and hitting a huge midrange shot to put Toronto up by 3 with 30 seconds left. Miami’s Joe Johnson missed a would-be tying 3 at the other end, and the Raptors survived to take the 2-1 lead.
Whiteside’s injury looms large for Miami. His rim protection facilitates much of what gave the Heat a top-10 defence this year, allowing tons of space to guard the perimeter. If Valanciunas also stays banged-up and both teams have to play small, it should favour the two-headed attack of Toronto guards Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.
With or without Whiteside, If this was a harbinger of things to come for Lowry in these play-offs and he’s finally figured out his shot, the Heat are in trouble. And the Raptors might finally emerge as the long-awaited threat to LeBron James’s vice grip on the Eastern crown.
Tonight’s games
• Cleveland at Atlanta, 11.30pm | Cavaliers lead series 3-0
• San Antonio at Oklahoma City, 4am | Spurs lead series 2-1
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Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history
Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)
Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.
Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)
A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.
Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)
Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.
Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)
Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.
Results
5pm: Al Maha Stables – Maiden+(PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Reem Baynounah, Fernando Jara+(jockey), Mohamed Daggash+(trainer)
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Maiden+(PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: AF Afham, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6pm: Emirates Fillies Classic – Prestige+(PA) Dh100,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Ghallieah, Sebastien Martino, Jean-Claude Pecout
6.30pm: Emirates Colts Classic – Prestige+(PA) Dh100,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Yas Xmnsor, Saif Al Balushi, Khalifa Al Neyadi
7pm: The President’s Cup – Group 1+(PA) Dh2,500,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Somoud, Adrie de Vries, Jean de Roualle
7.30pm: The President’s Cup – Listed+(TB) Dh380,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Haqeeqy, Dane O’Neill, John Hyde.
La Mer lowdown
La Mer beach is open from 10am until midnight, daily, and is located in Jumeirah 1, well after Kite Beach. Some restaurants, like Cupagahwa, are open from 8am for breakfast; most others start at noon. At the time of writing, we noticed that signs for Vicolo, an Italian eatery, and Kaftan, a Turkish restaurant, indicated that these two restaurants will be open soon, most likely this month. Parking is available, as well as a Dh100 all-day valet option or a Dh50 valet service if you’re just stopping by for a few hours.
Manchester City (0) v Liverpool (3)
Uefa Champions League, quarter-final, second leg
Where: Etihad Stadium
When: Tuesday, 10.45pm
Live on beIN Sports HD
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Almouneer
Started: 2017
Founders: Dr Noha Khater and Rania Kadry
Based: Egypt
Number of staff: 120
Investment: Bootstrapped, with support from Insead and Egyptian government, seed round of
$3.6 million led by Global Ventures
The Beekeeper
Director: David Ayer
Starring: Jason Statham, Josh Hutcherson, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Minnie Driver, Jeremy Irons
Rating: 3/5
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
Company Profile
Name: HyveGeo
Started: 2023
Founders: Abdulaziz bin Redha, Dr Samsurin Welch, Eva Morales and Dr Harjit Singh
Based: Cambridge and Dubai
Number of employees: 8
Industry: Sustainability & Environment
Funding: $200,000 plus undisclosed grant
Investors: Venture capital and government
Company profile
Name: WonderTree
Started: April 2016
Co-founders: Muhammad Waqas and Muhammad Usman
Based: Karachi, Pakistan, Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Delaware, US
Sector: Special education, education technology, assistive technology, augmented reality
Number of staff: 16
Investment stage: Growth
Investors: Grants from the Lego Foundation, UAE's Anjal Z, Unicef, Pakistan's Ignite National Technology Fund
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The five pillars of Islam
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
