may set up a dedicated cricket channel.Perh

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Kevin Durant matched his career high with seven 3-pointers and scored 39 points, coolly knocking down long jumpers while thoroughly embarrassing Russell Westbrook and his old Oklahoma City team in Golden States 122-96 rout of the Thunder on Thursday night.This rematch of the Western Conference Finals won by the Warriors in seven games quickly turned into the KD show at sold-out Oracle Arena, where OKC (4-1) took its first loss to leave LeBron James and the champion Cavaliers as the leagues lone unbeaten team.So much for this one being just like any other game for Durant. Even he knew it would certainly mean more once the ball was tipped, a matchup circled on calendars everywhere from the moment he joined the Warriors in July.Westbrook was held to 20 points -- yes, thats right -- after coming in as the NBAs leading scorer averaging 37.8 points.Stephen Curry added 21 points and seven assists while Klay Thompson emerged from his 3-point funk to make four from long range on the way to 18 points in the Warriors fourth straight win.CAVALIERS 128, CELTICS 122CLEVELAND -- LeBron James scored a season-high 30 points and the reigning NBA champion Cavaliers stayed undefeated, beating the Celtics.James moved within two points of passing Hakeem Olajuwon for 10th place on the NBAs all-time scoring list. Olajuwon had 26,946 points, a total James will likely surpass Saturday night in Philadelphia.The Cavaliers are 5-0 for the first time since 1976-77 when they started 8-0.Kevin Love scored 26 points, also a season high, while Kyrie Irving added 23 for the Cavaliers. Tristan Thompson recorded a double-double in the first half, finishing with 15 points and 14 rebounds.Isaiah Thomas scored 30 points and Avery Bradley had 26 for the Celtics, who played without two starters, center Al Horford (concussion) and forward Jae Crowder (sprained left ankle).BUCKS 125, PACERS 106MILWAUKEE -- Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker each had 27 points to lead the Bucks past the Pacers.Paul George scored 23 points, reserve C.J. Miles added 19, Jeff Teague had 16 and Myles Turner 15, but it wasnt enough as the Pacers slipped to 0-3 on the road.When Parker hit from in close and then from beyond the arc to open the fourth quarter, it looked like the Bucks would coast to their third win of the season.Indiana had other ideas and closed with a flurry led by George who hit a 3-pointer with 9:28 to go, cutting the deficit to 95-82. When Turner made two free throws and Thaddeus Young hit a basket, the Bucks lead was nine.MAGIC 102, KINGS 94ORLANDO, Fla. -- Evan Fournier scored 29 points and Serge Ibaka added 17 to lead the Magic to a victory over the Kings.In one of their better offensive games this season, the Magic had five players score in double figures with Aaron Gordon contributing a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while reserve Jeff Green scored 15 points. The Magic (2-3) won back-to-back games for the first time this season as they returned home from a three-game trip.DeMarcus Cousins led all scorers with 33 points, while Rudy Gay added 16 for the Kings (2-4), who have lost three straight on their current five-game road swing.NUGGETS 102, TIMBERWOLVES 99MINNEAPOLIS -- Danilo Gallinari scored 19 points and Jusuf Nurkic added 18 to help the Nuggets outlast the Timberwolves.Wilson Chandler added 19 points to lead an impressive performance by Denvers second unit to erase a 15-point second-quarter deficit. The Nuggets outscored Minnesota 45-23 off the bench and shot 48 percent for their second win of the season.Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 points and 14 rebounds and Andrew Wiggins scored 25 for the Timberwolves, who gave away a lead of at least 15 points for the third time in four games this season. Nemanja Bjelica scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, but his 3-pointer at the buzzer went in and out. 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Only the most cynical traditionalist - you know, the ones still calling themselves crickets fustiest word, purist - could have failed to be impressed with the manner in which the Big Bash League, the bold, brash Big Bash League, strode into 2016.The last night of 2015 saw Travis Head pull off an outrageous heist - compelling cricket, whatever your favoured format - for the Strikers against the Sixers in front of 46,389 adoring Adelaidians, supporting a team (with genuine gusto) that did not exist six years ago. The next night, Hobart Hurricanes hosted their first-ever sell-out at Bellerive Oval (by seasons end, they had had two more).January 2, however, was the whopper, with 80,883 (breaking the competitions record by more than 30,000) at the MCG and over 20,000 more at the Waca. At the G, vendors were out of food by half-time, conservative estimates suggested 1,500 people gave up when queuing for tickets, and A$80,000 of merchandise was sold. Only three of the 45 games hosted by the MCG in the 2015 AFL season - a veritable Melbourne religion with 150 years of tradition and deep-seated rivalries behind it - drew a larger crowd.When placed alongside a Test summer against weak opposition on dreary pitches (and, in Sydneys case, under rainy skies) these numbers were arresting evidence that the BBL had changed Australian cricket in ways greater than simply succeeding in encouraging fans - young and old - to don a literal cardboard bucket, meant for housing fried chicken, on their heads.No, the impact of the competition, gearing up for its sixth season for men and into its second for women, has been profound, and the landscape altered for good. It has muscled its way to the very heart of the summer; in every sense of the word, the BBL is primetime. When the holidays start, the BBL starts; when the holidays end, the BBL ends, and for 40 days, there is cricket on almost every evening - it pauses for thought on Christmas Eve (although Sydney Sixers want to play then too), Christmas Day (when Melbourne Renegades fancy a game), and the days that Australia play their January ODIs. The trick has been in its regularity, and sheer simplicity. Administrators argue that the BBLs schedule sits neatly alongside the summers international calendar, and that the shortest form is the gateway drug that is conscripting the next generation of Test obsessives. In essence, the BBL extended the cricketing day; Australia play Tests, then their fans switch the channel at the close of play and watch the shorter stuff. Those administrators may be right - and there is no doubt the BBL has brought new fans to the sport, particularly kids, women and ethnic minorities - but whether that translates into sold-out Tests in years to come, it really is far too early to tell.For players, opportunities are greater, and deeper. Six teams became eight, providing more slots, with Channel Tens free-to-air broadcast elevating their profiles; non-international players are household names, playing before large crowds and huge TV audiences. A new type of staar emerged too, like Craig Simmons, from outside the mainstream - for some, this will lead to highly lucrative careers in leagues around the world, without ever playing an international.dddddddddddd Among professionals, Test cricket remains the pinnacle of the game, but do kids now grow up dreaming of playing BBL, not international cricket?This has come at a price, with the less lucrative or marketable - and thus popular - Matador Cup and Sheffield Shield shunted to the summers margins. If Australias Test fortunes do not pick up, the BBL is likely - rightly or wrongly - to be blamed. As one player says: they have probably been the victims of the success. They are hotly contested but the wider public arent really interested and they are also increasingly treated as sort of talent-development competitions by administrators. This cant help but flow down to how the players feel about them.TV has made stars of those players, and the BBLs newfound power in the broadcast market was indicated by American giants NBC showing 10 games this year. In the UK, BBL was a key plank in BT Sports decision to snap up the rights for all Australian cricket, but things will be most interesting at home: later this summer, the next batch of rights (the current lot expire at the end of the 2017-18 season) for Australian cricket will be sold. Network Ten paid $20m a season for the last round of BBL rights, while Channel Nine paid $80m for international cricket; industries experts anticipate that the gap between those figures will narrow significantly, with the BBLs value at least trebling. Channel Seven may want a slice of the pie, while it is thought Fox Sports may set up a dedicated cricket channel.Perhaps, though, beyond the increased participation, crowds and players opportunities, the shuffled shape of summer and economic expansion, the BBLs greatest impact has on the sports image. CA were brazen in their belief that cricket was too male, pale and stale and have targeted non-traditional audiences with abandon.While some of the BBLs gimmicks pursued to this end have been excruciating, the atmosphere at games is welcoming and seldom boozy (unlike T20 in England or international cricket in either country), the crowds are diverse and, most eye-catchingly, full of families and kids - at whom everything is aimed. It is these values that mean young girls now have cricketing role models through the WBBL and underpinned CAs absolute conviction that Chris Gayle, the human with more runs in the competitions format than any other, would not return this year having compromised the BBLs values last year.Image matters and, as a result of the pursuit of these ideals through the BBL, cricket is a broader, bigger sport. The game has changed for good.BT Sport is your new home for Australias home international matches and Big Bash League, including the 2017-18 Ashes series. For more info please visit sport.bt.com/cricket ' ' '