Steve Kerr approached Gregg Popovich on the court, smiled and shared a laugh with one of his mentors following his first home loss as coach of the Golden State Warriors.
“I just told him, ‘Thanks a lot for picking tonight to play your best game of the year’,” said Kerr, who also was hoping Popovich would rest his regulars.
Instead, Popovich played his veterans on consecutive nights – and they delivered.
Tony Parker had 28 points and seven assists, Kawhi Leonard scored 19 and the restless San Antonio Spurs (4-3) beat the Warriors (5-2) 113-100 on Tuesday night.
“I’m really proud of them. Back-to-backs are difficult for an older team, but I thought they really showed a lot of focus and played with a purpose,” Popovich said.
The defending NBA champions leaned on their aging Big Three – Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan – to pull off California’s most difficult double. The Spurs rallied past the Clippers 89-85 on Monday in Los Angeles before cooling off one of the league’s hottest teams in Oakland.
Popovich said he went with his regulars because it’s early in the season, the Spurs have the next two days off and his veterans wanted to play.
“We know in the West, it’s a beast, and you don’t want to take too many games off because it’s tough to catch up,” Parker said.
Klay Thompson scored 29 points after missing the previous game with a sprained right hand, and Harrison Barnes had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Warriors, who have lost two straight after a 5-0 start under Kerr.
The first-year coach seemed more at peace with the loss than he has after some wins this season. Kerr credited the Spurs for playing a near mistake-free game and said there wasn’t much his team – or any team – could do when the Spurs are at their best.
“Look, I retired 12 years ago, and the same three top players and the same coach are still over there. It’s insane,” said Kerr, who won two of his five NBA titles as a player under Popovich.
San Antonio played the kind of all-around game that has defined the franchise for more than a decade. The formula worked perfectly against Golden State, who entered the night leading the league in field-goal percentage (49 per cent) and turnovers (22.3) per game.
The Spurs’ reserves outscored the Warriors’ bench 40-20. San Antonio also forced 20 turnovers and committed only eight, and the Spurs had eight offensive rebounds.
That helped the Spurs take 23 more shots than Golden State and offset a night when the Warriors outshot them 54.3 per cent to 49.5 per cent.
“They’re the champs for a reason,” Thompson said.
Duncan had 12 points and 13 rebounds in 36 minutes. Ginobili scored 17 points in 26 minutes, and Parker shot 11-of-17 from the floor in 30 minutes as San Antonio grinded out another win.
The Spurs controlled the game most of the way until a brief run by the Warriors sliced San Antonio’s lead to six in the fourth quarter. Parker answered by converting a three-point play over Stephen Curry and followed with a three-pointer to stretch San Antonio’s lead to 108-96 with 1:52 to play.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Raptors 104 (7-1), Magic 100 (2-6)
Kyle Lowry scored 19 points, Terrence Ross had 17 and the Toronto Raptors erased an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Orlando 104-100 on Tuesday night, their ninth consecutive victory over the Magic.
DeMar DeRozan had 16 points and Lou Williams scored eight of his 14 in the fourth as the Eastern Conference leaders won their fifth straight game overall and improved to 7-1.
Ross grabbed the rebound on a potential tying jump shot by Tobias Harris with 2 seconds left. Toronto have won their first five home games for the first time since 2003/04.
Evan Fournier scored 24 and Harris had 23 points and 13 rebounds for Orlando, who lost their second straight.
Mavericks 106 (5-3), Kings 98 (5-3)
Dirk Nowitzki became the highest-scoring NBA player born outside of the United States, helping the Mavericks rally from 24 points down to beat the Kings.
Monta Ellis scored 10 of his 16 points in the third quarter, including a fadeaway three-pointer at the buzzer after the Mavericks had taken their first lead in their 21st straight regular-season win at home against Sacramento.
Nowitzki passed Hakeem Olajuwon for ninth place on the all-time scoring list. The 7-foot German finished with 23 for 26,953 career points, seven more than the Nigerian-born former star of the Houston Rockets.
Rudy Gay scored 26 to lead the Kings.
Grizzlies 107 (7-1), Lakers 102 (1-6)
Mike Conley scored 23 points and the Grizzlies finally got a strong effort from their struggling bench to beat the Lakers.
Kobe Bryant led the Lakers (with 28 points, but shot 10-of-26 from the field and surpassed Boston Celtics great John Havlicek for the most missed field goals in an NBA career.
Reserve guard Wayne Ellington was not with the Lakers after his father was killed in Philadelphia on Sunday night.
Backup guard Beno Udrih had 16 points for Memphis. Courtney Lee scored 15 as six Grizzlies finished in double figures, including Zach Randolph with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Memphis have won 17 straight regular-season home games since a February loss to Dallas.
Bucks 85 (4-4), Thunder 78 (2-6)
OJ Mayo scored 19 points and Brandon Knight added 16 as the Bucks held off a late Oklahoma City rally to beat the Thunder.
Reggie Jackson had 29 points, nine above his season average, for Oklahoma City. Serge Ibaka added 14 as the Thunder fell to 0-5 on the road.
The Bucks led by five after three quarters and extended their lead to as much as 11 in the fourth. Oklahoma City cut the lead to four on two free throws by Ibaka with 31 seconds left but got no closer.
Trail Blazers 102 (5-3), Hornets 100 (3-5)
Damian Lillard had 29 points and the Trail Blazers trailed by as many as 23 points in the first half before rallying in the fourth quarter to beat the Hornets.
Charlotte’s Gary Neal made a layup at the final buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime, but the refs reversed the call after a review.
LaMarcus Aldridge added 25 points and 14 rebounds for the Blazers, who have won four of their last five games and improved to 5-1 at the Moda Center.
Al Jefferson scored 22 points, while Lance Stephenson had 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Hornets.
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
The years Ramadan fell in May
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
Bharat
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar
Starring: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Grover
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
UK's plans to cut net migration
Under the UK government’s proposals, migrants will have to spend 10 years in the UK before being able to apply for citizenship.
Skilled worker visas will require a university degree, and there will be tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.
But what are described as "high-contributing" individuals such as doctors and nurses could be fast-tracked through the system.
Language requirements will be increased for all immigration routes to ensure a higher level of English.
Rules will also be laid out for adult dependants, meaning they will have to demonstrate a basic understanding of the language.
The plans also call for stricter tests for colleges and universities offering places to foreign students and a reduction in the time graduates can remain in the UK after their studies from two years to 18 months.
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
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company%20profile
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
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.”
Company%20profile
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Game Of Thrones Season Seven: A Bluffers Guide
Want to sound on message about the biggest show on television without actually watching it? Best not to get locked into the labyrinthine tales of revenge and royalty: as Isaac Hempstead Wright put it, all you really need to know from now on is that there’s going to be a huge fight between humans and the armies of undead White Walkers.
The season ended with a dragon captured by the Night King blowing apart the huge wall of ice that separates the human world from its less appealing counterpart. Not that some of the humans in Westeros have been particularly appealing, either.
Anyway, the White Walkers are now free to cause any kind of havoc they wish, and as Liam Cunningham told us: “Westeros may be zombie land after the Night King has finished.” If the various human factions don’t put aside their differences in season 8, we could be looking at The Walking Dead: The Medieval Years.
'Saand Ki Aankh'
Produced by: Reliance Entertainment with Chalk and Cheese Films
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar, Prakash Jha, Vineet Singh
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt
Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure
Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels
The Settlers
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place play-off
ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
