OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA // Draymond Green emphatically flexed his bulging biceps with big plays on both ends of the floor, and these Golden State Warriors might just be far too strong for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
That repeat title Golden State has spoken of since the very start more than eight months ago is suddenly two wins from reality.
It will be the only way the Warriors’ record-setting season ends right. For now, they sure seem unstoppable.
Green had 28 points with five 3-pointers, seven rebounds and five assists, while MVP Stephen Curry scored 18 points despite foul trouble, and Golden State thoroughly overwhelmed Cleveland 110-77 in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.
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“There’s no point in celebrating or jumping up and down saying, ‘Look at us.’ We’re two games away from winning a championship, but we still have to go out and get the job done,” Curry said. “It’s a trap to think that we’ve figured things out, that we have the perfect formula to beat Cleveland and they have no chance in the series. That’s not how we’re supposed to think.”
The 33-point win was the Warriors’ most lopsided ever in a finals game, and they have won the first two by a combined 48 points.
“They just beat us,” LeBron James said. “We didn’t win anything. No points of the game did we beat them in anything.”
Once the Splash Brothers found their shooting touch, Cleveland couldn’t keep up. Klay Thompson got hot after half time to finish with 17 points as Golden State became the first team to go ahead 2-0 in the finals since the Lakers in 2009 against Orlando.
Now, the series shifts to Cleveland, and James and the Cavs must show up for Game 3 on Wednesday in front of their title-starved fans down 2-0 to the defending champs and with forward Kevin Love dealing with a head injury.
“We’ve got to be tougher,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said.
The NBA said Love experienced dizziness early in the second half and left for the locker room to be re-examined, then was placed in the NBA’s concussion protocol. He hadn’t exhibited any symptoms before then, even after taking an elbow to the back of the head from Harrison Barnes in the second quarter and going down for several minutes before returning following a timeout. He immediately made a baseline 3-pointer for the Cavs’ first basket in nearly 5½ minutes.
After a scoreless first quarter when he missed all five shots but had five assists, James scored 14 of his 19 points in the second and also finished with nine assists and eight rebounds, but seven turnovers – and he took the blame. James’s teams had won nine straight post-season Game 2s after losing the series opener dating back to a loss in the 2008 Eastern Conference semi-finals to Boston.
“I’m definitely surprised at the margin of victory tonight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “It happens in the NBA, sometimes things get away from you. Sometimes shots go in, sometimes they don’t. Everything changes when we go to Cleveland, we know that.”
After Curry and Thompson combined for only 20 points in Thursday’s 104-89 Game 1 win on 8-for-27 shooting and the bench carried the load, they each hit four 3-pointers and went 13 for 24. And Curry got a post-game treat: He exchanged jerseys with Barcelona and Brazil football star Neymar.
Green shot 11 for 20 and made 5 of 8 3-pointers, sparking a suggestion he might apply to be a Splash Brother alongside fellow All-Stars Curry and Thompson.
“Stop it,” Green said with a chuckle.
“Tonight, he’s one of us,” Thompson said.
The Warriors’ 87 victories matched the 1995/96 Chicago Bulls, the team Golden State topped for the most regular-season victories in NBA history with 73.
Andrew Bogut had four of his five blocks – Golden State had nine overall – in the first 7:15 and received a standing ovation when he came out with 3:50 left in the first. He went to the locker room late in the quarter after having hit his hand on the rim early and grimacing in pain.
Green credited the defence for holding down James and Co.
While the outspoken swingman insists he just wants rings and isn’t yet ready to consider the Warriors among the best of all time, the typically quiet Thompson let loose a little.
“We’re better than the Showtime Lakers,” he quipped, a friendly jab at former power forward father, Mychal.
Andre Iguodala, the 2015 finals MVP, took another hard hit to the groin in the first quarter on an offensive foul called against James, causing the Warriors forward to grimace in pain. Matthew Dellavedova got Iguodala in the same area in Game 1.
A moment of silence was held for late boxing great Muhammad Ali, who died Friday night at an Arizona hospital. Photos of Ali showed on the main scoreboard ahead of the national anthem.
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Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings, Ben Stokes, Joe Root (c), Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Ben Foakes (wk), Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Jack Leach, James Anderson
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Coming soon
Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura
When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Akira Back Dubai
Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as, “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.
FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
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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
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1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
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The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.