New York Knicks fans got an encouraging first look at their team under new coach Mike Brown, whose philosophy of fast-paced basketball started to take shape during his side’s two pre-season victories over the Philadelphia 76ers in Abu Dhabi this week.
The Knicks followed up their win over the Sixers on Thursday with a 112-104 success on Saturday, in front of a capacity crowd at Etihad Arena.
NBA legends like Patrick Ewing, Oscar Robertson, John Starks, Derrick Rose, and Mark Jackson were all in attendance, while other celebrities in the house included rapper Central Cee, UFC fighter Ciryl Gane, Hollywood star Adrien Brody and Irish actor Barry Keoghan.
Star point guard Jalen Brunson led the scoring for New York with 14 points from 17 minutes played, while his teammate OG Anunoby, who missed Game 1 with a hand strain, started on Saturday and tallied up 13 points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal during the 17 minutes he was on the floor.
Josh Hart, who fell in Game 1 and sustained a no-contact injury, was ruled inactive for Saturday’s game due to back spasms.
Coach Brown, who was brought in this summer following the departure of Tom Thibodeau, has been stressing on the importance of “playing fast” from the moment he took over the Knicks.
“Our pace, starting with when the ball goes through the net on a make, has to be better every single possession,” Brown said after Game 1 on Thursday.
The Knicks were clearly listening as they dazzled fans in Abu Dhabi on Saturday with some high-speed action fit for the Yas Marina Formula One track across the street.
“I thought our pace was better tonight,” Brown said after Game 2.
“We didn’t take care of the ball like we should have in transition though because our floor wasn’t always spaced and sometimes we got too deep and tried to finish in a crowd. So, the pace was better, I think, overall. We just got to do better, try to take care of the ball.”
The Sixers were once again without star duo Joel Embiid and Paul George, who are still recovering from injuries, but the crowd got a glimpse of Embiid in action as he took some shots during a lengthy break for a challenged call in the third quarter.
The Sixers were a poor three out of 35 from the three-point line on Thursday and were looking to improve that stat in Game 2. They did, going 12 from 28 from beyond the arc on Saturday.
Tyrese Maxey top-scored for Philadelphia, sinking 16 points across the first two quarters, but the Sixers still went into half-time trailing the Knicks by 12.
As was the case with Game 1, the Knicks fielded their second stringers and younger crew in the second half. The Sixers attempted a comeback and halved their deficit by the end of the third quarter but the Knicks regrouped to complete the sweep in Abu Dhabi.
“Playing here was great,” said Brunson of the Knicks’ time in the UAE capital.
“The experience here was amazing. Seeing the fans and being able to do what we do on the court and then still have fun off the court. So, great bonding experience for us and I’m just happy to be able to come away with a couple wins.”
Brown believes Brunson is adjusting well to life under a new coach and a new system.
“You can see he’s starting to get his feet underneath him a little bit, understand how to play at that frantic pace and still be effective and know where his shots are going to come from,” said Brown.
Brunson admits it will take some time to make the necessary adjustments but is encouraged by the trip to Abu Dhabi.
“We’re still adjusting and that’s the process of the entire season. You’re not just going to be who you are in the training camp, you’re going to continue to get better throughout the season. I think the longer that we’re going through this and understanding what it is that is needed of us and asked of us, the better we’ll be,” added Brunson.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse was pleased with what he saw from his team against the Knicks, highlighting the efforts of Maxey and rookie guard VJ Edgecombe on Saturday.
Nurse was concerned ahead of the trip to Abu Dhabi that the team’s packed schedule of activities would affect the work he wanted to get done on court but the Philadelphia boss said that was far from the case.
“We didn’t really experience any of that here because everything was so convenient and the facilities were great,” said Nurse.
“We were able to get our two practices in a day and it was a great experience and the couple of things I did get to do, I really enjoyed and I know a lot of our people really had a great time. From a coaching and a basketball standpoint we really had a good week of work.”
This was the fourth edition of the NBA Abu Dhabi Games, which are part of a strategic partnership between the NBA and the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi.
Starting line-ups
Philadelphia 76ers: Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Kelly Oubre Jr, Dominick Barlow, and Adem Bona.
New York Knicks: Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Mitchell Robinson, Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
Winners
Best Men’s Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women’s Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men’s Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women’s Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
Al Jazira’s foreign quartet for 2017/18
Romarinho, Brazil
Lassana Diarra, France
Sardor Rashidov, Uzbekistan
Mbark Boussoufa, Morocco
Hotel Data Cloud profile
Date started: June 2016
Founders: Gregor Amon and Kevin Czok
Based: Dubai
Sector: Travel Tech
Size: 10 employees
Funding: $350,000 (Dh1.3 million)
Investors: five angel investors (undisclosed except for Amar Shubar)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
if you go
The flights
Fly direct to Kutaisi with Flydubai from Dh925 return, including taxes. The flight takes 3.5 hours. From there, Svaneti is a four-hour drive. The driving time from Tbilisi is eight hours.
The trip
The cost of the Svaneti trip is US$2,000 (Dh7,345) for 10 days, including food, guiding, accommodation and transfers from and to Tbilisi or Kutaisi. This summer the TCT is also offering a 5-day hike in Armenia for $1,200 (Dh4,407) per person. For further information, visit www.transcaucasiantrail.org/en/hike/
PROFILE OF CURE.FIT
Started: July 2016
Founders: Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori
Based: Bangalore, India
Sector: Health & wellness
Size: 500 employees
Investment: $250 million
Investors: Accel, Oaktree Capital (US); Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, Innoven Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Piramal Group’s Anand Piramal, Pratithi Investment Trust, Ratan Tata (India); and Unilever Ventures (Unilever’s global venture capital arm)
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
City’s slump
L – Juventus, 2-0
D – C Palace, 2-2
W – N Forest, 3-0
L – Liverpool, 2-0
D – Feyenoord, 3-3
L – Tottenham, 4-0
L – Brighton, 2-1
L – Sporting, 4-1
L – Bournemouth, 2-1
L – Tottenham, 2-1
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Floward%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERiyadh%2C%20Saudi%20Arabia%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbdulaziz%20Al%20Loughani%20and%20Mohamed%20Al%20Arifi%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EE-commerce%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbout%20%24200%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAljazira%20Capital%2C%20Rainwater%20Partners%2C%20STV%20and%20Impact46%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E1%2C200%3C%2Fp%3E%0A