Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson scored 27 points each and the Golden State Warriors used a huge third quarter to roll to a 131-106 win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.
The Warriors led by five at halftime and used a 38-point third quarter, with 15 points from Curry, to take a 22-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Dwight Howard, who missed the first two games against the Warriors, led Houston with 23 points and 10 rebounds on a night when the NBA’s leading scorer James Harden scored just 11.
The Rockets got five straight points from Kostas Papanikolaou to cut the lead to 110-94 with seven minutes left, but Golden State scored nine quick points after that, led by Curry’s five, to make it 119-94 and cruise to its NBA-leading 24th double-digit victory.
Harden made just two of his first 12 shots and got his fourth foul on a charge with 1:44 left in the third. He was 4 of 15, including 0 of 4 on 3s, to finish well below his average of 27 points a game.
Hawks roll on
Kyle Korver made a season-high seven 3-pointers on his way to 24 points, and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Chicago Bulls 107-99 for its 12th straight victory.
Al Horford added 22 points and nine rebounds as the Hawks matched the second-longest win streak in franchise history. Paul Millsap scored 16 and Jeff Teague had 17 points and 11 assists.
The Hawks have won 26 of 28 since a 7-6 start, surging to the top of the Eastern Conference with one of the NBA’s most efficient offenses and a stingy defense.
Derrick Rose had 23 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds for Chicago, which has dropped five of seven. Pau Gasol had 22 points and 15 rebounds, and Jimmy Butler scored 15.
Grizzlies down Portland
Zach Randolph had 20 points and 15 rebounds, Beno Udrih added 17 points, including two key buckets in the final minute as the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 102-98.
Memphis won its fourth straight and led by as many as 20 in the second half. But it saw the lead dwindle to 95-93 when Damian Lillard connected on a 3-pointer with 1:06 left. Udrih’s 20-footer as the shot clock expired on the next possession helped Memphis maintain the lead.
Lillard connected on another 3-pointer with 27 seconds left, but Udrih made a 22-footer with 8.7 seconds for the win.
Jeff Green and Courtney Lee matched Udrih’s 17 points, and Marc Gasol finished with 15.
LaMarcus Aldridge led Portland with 32 points.
Clippers dethrone Kings
Blake Griffin scored 18 of his 30 points in the second half, Matt Barnes had 26 points and the Los Angeles Clippers pulled away in the third quarter to beat the Sacramento Kings 117-108.
Chris Paul added 12 points and nine assists, J.J. Redick had 18 points and Jamal Crawford scored 13 off the bench for the Clippers, who bounced back from a sluggish first half to win for the fourth straight time at Sacramento.
Griffin had 13 points in the third quarter and then scored five over the final 3 1/2 minutes of the game to help Los Angeles to its fourth win in six games.
Jason Thompson had 23 points and a career-high 22 rebounds for the Kings.
Also Saturday, the Detroit Pistons routed the Philadelphia 76ers 107-89, the Charlotte Hornets defeated the Indiana Pacers 80-71 in overtime and the Washington Wizards downed the Brooklyn Nest 99-90.
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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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