VanVleet #23 of the Toronto Raptors shoots the ball during the game
against the Brooklyn Nets during Round One, Game Three of the NBA
Playoffs on August 21, 2020 at The Field House at ESPN Wide World
Of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. David Sherman/NBAE via Getty
Images/AFP
The defending champions Toronto Raptors pummelled the
Brooklyn Nets while the Boston Celtics had to claw past a
determined Philadelphia on Friday, both taking commanding 3-0
series leads in the NBA playoffs.
Pascal Siakam scored 26 points, pulled down eight rebounds and
handed out five assists to lead the Raptors to a 117-92 victory
over the Nets.
Toronto connected on 50.5 percent of their shots from the field
and 47.8 percent from three-point range.
Kyle Lowry came up just short of a triple-double with 11 points,
10 rebounds and seven assists for a Raptors team that can clinch a
second round berth in game four on Sunday.
“We’re just taking it a possession at a time,” Lowry said. “We
can’t focus on anything else. Closeout games are always the
toughest. We know they’re not going to lay down.”
Tyler Johnson led the Nets with 23 points, Caris LeVert added 15
and Chris Chiozza chipped in 14 off the bench, But as in Toronto’s
game-one blowout win, Brooklyn never led.
AUGUST 21: OG Anunoby #3 of the Toronto Raptors makes a reverse
dunk against the Brooklyn Nets during the second half in Game Three
of the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs at The Field House at
ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 21, 2020 in Lake Buena
Vista, Florida. The Toronto Raptors won 117-92. Kim
Klement-Pool/Getty Images/AFP
The Celtics are also in control against the 76ers, although they
had to battle a struggling but determined Philadelphia side to
close out a 102-94 victory.
Kemba Walker scored 24 points and Jaylen Brown added 21 as the
Celtics withstood a 30-point, 13-rebound performance from
Philadelphia big man Joel Embiid in the NBA’s quarantine bubble in
Orlando, Florida.
Josh Richardson and Shake Milton added 17 po ints apiece and
Tobias Harris scored 15 with 15 rebounds for Philadelphia, who
connected on just 29.5 percent of their shots from the floor but
kept themselves in it with hustle.
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Too many misses
The Sixers out-rebounded the Celtics 57-45 and scored 20
second-chance points to Boston’s nine.
“Defensively we did what we needed to do to win a game,” Sixers
coach Brett Brown said. “Offensively, the quantity of misses is
hard to overcome.”
Jayson Tatum added 15 points for Boston, after averaging
32.5 over the first two games. He was limited by early foul trouble
that saw him sit out all of the second quarter.
AUGUST 21: Jeremiah Martin #0 of the Brooklyn Nets shoots in front
of Malcolm Miller #13 of the Toronto Raptors during the second half
in Game Three of the first round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs at The
Field House at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 21, 2020
in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The Toronto Raptors won 117-92.
Kim Klement-Pool/Getty Images/AFP
But Tatum came up with a key block of Embiid that led to the
go-ahead basket late in the fourth quarter as Boston closed the
game on a 10-0 scoring run.
Brown said the Sixers are well aware that no NBA team has
rallied to win a playoff series after trailing 0-3.
Despite their dire situation, Embiid said he was focused on
winning game four on Sunday.
“I don’t want to be swept,” Embiid said. “I don’t want that in
my resume.”
In Western Conference action, the Utah Jazz cruised past the
Denver Nuggets 124-87, taking a 2-1 series lead with their second
straight lopsided win.
And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Dallas Mavericks 130-122
to edge ahead 2-1 in their series.
Utah’s Mike Conley played his first playoff game in the bubble
after leaving for the birth of his son and then quarantined for
four days upon his return.
Conley made seven of eight three-point attempts on the way to 27
points, leading three Jazz starters with 20 or more.
Rudy Gobert added 24 points and 14 rebounds and Donovan Mitchell
added 20 points and four rebounds. All got plenty of rest as well,
sitting out much of the fourth quarter with the game well in
hand.
Kawhi Leonard scored 36 points and grabbed nine rebounds,
leading seven Clippers players to score in double figures.
Brooklyn Nets drives to the basket as Kyle Lowry #7 of the Toronto
Raptors pursues during the second half in Game Three of the first
round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs at The Field House at ESPN Wide
World Of Sports Complex on August 21, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista,
Florida. Kim Klement-Pool/Getty Images/AFP
‘Incredible’ Leonard
“I thought his playmaking was incredible tonight,” Clippers
coach Doc Rivers said of Leonard. “Obviously his scoring, his
defense, but his playmaking sets a tone for everybody else.”
Leonard said he “just tried to be aggressive” as the Clippers
bounced back from a game two defeat. “The whole team is being
aggressive,” he said. “They’re helping me get easy shots.
“When you pass the ball they’re making it, and that’s how you
get assists.”
After a physical first quarter the teams were tied at 23-23. But
the Clippers had seized a 68-54 lead by halftime and never trailed
after the break.
Even worse for the Mavericks, Luka Doncic sprained his left
ankle in the third quarter.
The 21-year-old Slovenian left the court without putting weight
on that leg but returned for the fourth quarter with the ankle
heavily taped.
He was clearly hindered in three more minutes of action but
handed out one last assist to post a triple-double of 13 points, 10
rebounds and 10 assists.
Doncic’s status for game four was unclear.
“It’s hard to say how this is going to be,” Mavs coach Rick
Carlisle said. “We’ve got every advanced treatment modality here,
as every team does, and we’ll see how this responds in the next 36
hours.”
-AFP
Sunday Dare
How National Sports Industry Policy will Promote Job
Creation – Dare
The 2020 Draft National Sports Industry Policy has been
generating a lot of interest since it was released to the general
public for review and necessary input. For us in the Ministry,
especially in the light of the Federal Government’s effort to
partner with the private sector in the quest to diversify the
economy and provide a sound footing for the country’s
socio-economic development through investments in non-oil sectors,
we believe this policy is a great step in positioning sports as the
center of development of several ancillary industries associated
with the sector, that will promote sports development and jobs
creation.
It must be emphasized that no development can be meaningful
without outlining government’s statement of intent for the sector,
through a National Policy, and the sports sector cannot be
different. The thrust of the Sports Industrialization Policy is
based on the Concept of the 3Is and 1P – Infrastructure development
based on attracting Incentives backed Investment, all driven by a
robust Policy that sets out how government intends to structure the
process of achieving its objectives of a productive sports
sector.
A structured process to arrive at the policy document was
designed and adopted in collaboration with the private sector as
represented by the NESG. Together we held several engagement
sessions over a 4-month period (November 2019 – March 2020) with
various stakeholders from across sports and non-sports sectors.
The COVID19 pandemic presented challenges on how to harmonise
these sessions into a representation of the goals and objectives of
the stakeholders, but the prevailing reality of non-contact working
protocols meant that the work of drafting the policy had to be done
virtually.
A Road Map was designed and adopted by the Supervising Committee
(Sports Industry Working Group – set up by the Ministry in February
2020 and tasked with several mandates, chief of which was to
deliver a draft National Sports Industry Policy).
The Road Map clearly provided for 6 Phases towards final
approval of the policy by the Federal Government. These processes
are ongoing and will eventually culminate in the presentation of
the Policy for approval by the Federal Executive Council.
It must be noted that this is the first time a draft sports
policy has been made available for the general public for scrutiny
and contribution. On advice of stakeholders, the review period was
extended by 10 days to enable more people to access the document
and send in their views. This stage of the policy development
process ended on Friday 14th August, 2020, and all submitted
reviews are being collated for validation and inclusion into the
draft policy before forwarding to the National Council of Sports
for their input and endorsement.
The Ministry applauds Members of the Supervising Committee as
well as the Policy Drafting Committee for their commitment to the
process and contribution to national development and we are indeed
appreciative of their willingness to serve the nation
selflessly.
While we acknowledge that we may not satisfy the desire of ALL
Nigerians to make a contribution to the policy document, we are
satisfied that the process designed for achieving this draft policy
encompassed stakeholders across the whole spectrum of sports
development.
What we have put in the public domain is a draft and subject to
changes based on constructive feedbacks. The Ministry is committed
to delivering a robust business model for sports industry
development in Nigeria. Sports is an economic activity all over the
world, and Nigeria cannot be different. The process of developing
athletes from raw material to finished product capable of sustained
podium success cannot continue to be a hit or miss affair as we
have done in the past.
The contributions of the private and social enterprise sectors
into developing the sports value chain cannot be ignored any longer
if we are to harness the full potential and power of sports for
both social and economic development.
The new National Sports Industry Policy is a first step towards
achieving this goal. We therefore call on all Stakeholders to
embrace the process and assist in delivering on this objective.
Lere-Adams. A.B.
Director Press.