Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry celebrates after a basket against the Indiana Pacers last week. Andy Lyons / Getty Images / AFP / March 17, 2016
Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry celebrates after a basket against the Indiana Pacers last week. Andy Lyons / Getty Images / AFP / March 17, 2016

Sport

NBA: Dangerously, Toronto Raptors are stalking Cleveland Cavaliers in the East

While the Cleveland Cavaliers have had a rough patch and still cannot seem to find a cohesive style, the hard-nosed Toronto Raptors are just one game back for the Eastern Conference lead.

Associated Press

March 21, 2016

Long after the Cleveland Cavaliers fired coach David Blatt in an attempt to stabilise a team that just couldn’t get on the same page, many of the same issues continue to plague them under new coach Tyronn Lue.

And while the Cavs try to figure out how to use Kevin Love, try to shore up their defence and find the consistency they need to make a real run at a title, the Toronto Raptors have put themselves right in Cleveland’s rearview mirror as the play-offs approach.

The Raptors (48-21) have won four straight games and seven of their last eight and are just one game back of the Cavs for the No 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors have weathered injuries to key players like Jonas Valanciunas, DeMarre Carroll and James Johnson, all the while relying on their continuity to get them through.

“It hasn’t been easy at all, dealing with injuries, key players being out,” all-star guard DeMar DeRozan said last month. “It’s definitely been tough. Just to get through it, stay afloat after that, it’s an accomplishment.”

Read more: Weird stuff happens – The Toronto Raptors and the virtue of pretty-good in the NBA

The Raptors are doing more than just staying afloat. With DeRozan and Kyle Lowry forming one of the league’s best backcourts, and coach Dwane Casey and the rest of the staff plugging in Luis Scola, Bismack Biyombo and Patrick Patterson to help overcome the injuries, the Raptors have been in the No 2 spot for most of the season.

“We’ve always been a team to overcome adversity,” DeRozan said. “That’s what the coaching staff has always preached. We’ve got guys that don’t complain. We take what’s given to us and make the most out of it.”

DeRozan and Lowry have set an aggressive tone for the Raptors offence, with DeRozan leading the league in points off drives to the basket, and the two are averaging more than 15 free-throw attempts per game.

Ultimately, the Raptors know the play-offs are all that matters. They have only won one play-off series in franchise history.

“The buy-in, the chemistry, the continuity has been good,” Casey said. “We still have a lot of room for improvement and some growth to be had. We’re where we want to be right now offensively and defensively.”

Stat line of the week:

Bismack Biyombo, Raptors: 16 points, 25 rebounds, 42 minutes in a double-overtime win over the Pacers on Thursday. Biyombo was one of the most intriguing prospects in the 2011 draft. He went seventh overall and spent his first four years with the Charlotte Hornets, struggling to gain a foot hold in the league. He landed in Toronto this season, and Casey has helped him realise his potential as a defensive beast while he fills in for the injured Valanciunas.

Things to watch this week:

The Greek Freak: The Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo's breakout season has reached a zenith with four triple-doubles in an 11-game span, and he came one assist shy of his fifth on Tuesday. Coach Jason Kidd has the 21-year-old running the Bucks offence, and he is flourishing in a role GM John Hammond saw for him when he drafted the Greek Freak in 2013.

Skidding Celtics: The Boston Celtics lost four in a row before getting an easy one against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday and has fallen to fifth in the East. The Celtics host the Orlando Magic and Toronto this week before starting a five-game trip out west with a game at the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.

Wolves Offence: The Minnesota Timberwolves may have the third-worst record in the West, but they have quietly had one of the league's best offences over the last 25 games. Interim coach Sam Mitchell has emphasised an up-tempo style, and the new starting line-up of Ricky Rubio, Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns and Gorgui Dieng is scoring more than 116 points per 100 possessions.

Russel's Run: Los Angeles Lakers rookie D'Angelo Russell has had a challenging first season under hard-nosed coach Byron Scott, but he opened March with a 39-point game and was looking to try to snap Towns' run of four straight Western Conference rookie of the month awards. He's shot just 27 per cent in the last three games, the typical ups and downs for a 20-year-old point guard.

Clippers at Warriors: One of the league's most spirited rivalries is renewed on Wednesday when Golden State returns home from a three-game road trip to host the Clippers.

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On Women's Day

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.”

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On Women's Day
Ain Issa camp:
  • Established in 2016
  • Houses 13,309 people, 2,092 families, 62 per cent children
  • Of the adult population, 49 per cent men, 51 per cent women (not including foreigners annexe)
  • Most from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa
  • 950 foreigners linked to ISIS and their families
  • NGO Blumont runs camp management for the UN
  • One of the nine official (UN recognised) camps in the region