LAS VEGAS -- Nate Diaz is eligible to compete against Jorge Masvidal at UFC 244 on Nov. 2 in New York. Period.

"The fight is ON!!!," UFC president Dana White tweeted on Friday. "I 100 percent knew Nate wasn't taking anything to cheat."

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has ruled Diaz, who is scheduled to headline UFC 244 at Madison Square Garden next weekend, has not committed an anti-doping violation, despite an atypical finding in an out-of-competition test taken in October. Diaz's test showed the presence of Ligandrol, a banned selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM).

According to the UFC, Diaz's levels of Ligandrol, a banned substance also known as LGD-4033 that stimulates muscle growth, was detected at a "double picogram/mL" level. The USADA traced the substance to a legal supplement Diaz ingested, which was categorized as an organic, vegan, plant-based daily multivitamin.

"Mr. Diaz has not committed an anti-doping policy violation, has not been provisionally suspended and is not subject to any sanctions," a UFC statement said. "Additionally, UFC has been informed by independent experts who have determined that there is unequivocally no appreciable performance enhancing or therapeutic benefit from the significantly limited amount of LGD-4033 that may be present in his system, which is roughly 10,000 times lower than one LGD-4033 therapeutic dose.

Diaz announced on social media on Thursday he was "not gonna make it" to UFC 244 because of elevated levels of a banned substance caused by a contaminated supplement. On Friday, he posted on Twitter he wanted the UFC and White to "Clear my name or I ain't doin s---." Diaz has since deleted the post.

According to the UFC, the USADA set a threshold on Ligandrol in late August after a rash of contaminated supplement cases involving SARM positives with its athletes. That decision occurred more than one month before Diaz's atypical finding.

The threshold is set at 100 picograms/mL, which Diaz tested well below. Numerous athletic commissions, however, who also hold jurisdiction over mixed martial arts contests, have not yet set the same threshold. The New York State Athletic Commission, for instance, still has the right to hold a hearing on Diaz's case, though Campbell said it has not indicated it intends to do so.

"New York has been aware of everything in real time as we've gotten it updated," said UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell. "We were informed of the contaminated substance directly linked to Nate Diaz's positive, and they were notified. Based on the info they have in front of them, it's been conveyed to me there is a high degree of comfort that Nate in no way was seeking a performance-enhancing advantage."

The UFC's anti-doping program has seen a rash of cases linked to contaminated supplements since it was implemented in the summer of 2015. According to UFC senior vice president of athlete performance Jeff Novitzky, the USADA has issued slightly fewer than 100 sanctions since summer 2015, and in the "ballpark of 30 to 40 percent" have been ultimately linked to contaminated supplements.

Diaz's case is most similar to one involving UFC welterweight Neil Magny. Magny tested positive for a low level of LGD-4033 and announced the news himself on social media in May. Because only trace amounts were found and the belief is that Magny ingested the substance from a tainted supplement, the USADA cleared him to fight last month. Unlike Diaz, Magny was unable to produce the specific supplement that was contaminated.

Diaz's team was able to send supplements to the USADA for testing at the World Anti-Doping Agency-certified Sports Medicine Research & Testing Laboratory (SMRTL) in Salt Lake City, sources said. The supplements were tested Thursday night and one tested positive for LGD-4033, the prohibited substance in question.

Diaz (20-11) is one of the biggest stars in the sport. He is scheduled to face Masvidal (34-13) for the unprecedented "BMF" title in the main event of UFC 244.

NEW YORK -- For a few moments, it appeared as though the Brooklyn Nets had won the summer free-agency sweepstakes but were destined to lose their first matchup with their crosstown opponents.

Then, Kyrie Irving, who has made a name for himself as a premier shooter under pressure, sank a go-ahead 3-pointer as the clocked ticked down to 21 seconds left in Friday's fourth quarter. The Nets, once up by 19, were able to hang on to beat the Knicks 113-109.

Afterward, Irving spoke about the difference in the rivalry with the Knicks since the Nets moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn.

"That was more a subway rivalry back when they played in New Jersey," Irving said. "Now that they're in Brooklyn, it's like a battle for who runs New York City."

Although it was only the second game of the regular season for each team, the matchup had been keyed up as a high-stakes rivalry.

The New York glitterati came out in droves to take in the clash of the boroughs. Spike Lee, a die-hard Knicks fan, traveled across the bridge to watch the game courtside in Barclays Center. Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge was in attendance, as was pitcher CC Sabathia. Early attendance had been sweetened by the promise of a free Irving jersey to the first 10,000 fans to arrive for Friday night's game. Two hours before tipoff, a line of fans stretched down the block from the entrance of Barclays Center to the corner of Atlantic Avenue.

Once inside, the crowd was electric.

"Just having everything thrown in the Knicks' face like, 'Kyrie is on our team -- ha-ha-ha,'" Nets center Jarrett Allen said after the game. "I think it did have a little weight on their side, plus we got the win, too. They [are] going to be hungry next game."

From opening tip, Nets fans' chants gloated about the team's summer acquisitions, but Knicks fans squawked loudly after each made New York bucket. Section 114, nicknamed the "The Block," bobbled between "We got KD and Kyrie, you got Dolan" chants and "Where is Zion?" in reference to the Knicks missing out on selecting No. 1 overall in the 2019 NBA draft (where the New Orleans Pelicans picked Zion Williamson).

The game unfolding below the screaming fans was bumpy. In total, the two teams combined for 57 personal fouls -- 31 by the Knicks and 26 by the Nets. At one point, the Nets' Taurean Prince and the Knicks' Bobby Portis were issued technical fouls after diving for a loose ball led to a scuffle. Security guards had to rush off the bench to ensure the kerfuffle didn't escalate. Each team also committed 26 turnovers.

"There were a lot of mental mistakes," Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said after the game. "A lot of silly fouls. A lot of general breakdowns that almost cost us. Even though we won the game, we will have another long film session to look at all the mistakes we made. We made a lot."

The Nets led by 11 points heading into the final quarter, but a quick 3-pointer from the Knicks prompted Atkinson to call for a timeout. By the six-minute mark, the Nets' double-digit lead had diminished to just six points. The crowd ebbed and flowed with each basket. When the Nets took the lead, Brooklyn fans roared and banged on their chests. When the Knicks surged back ahead, Barclays Center sounded like an extension of Madison Square Garden. Then it was back to a Nets home-crowd advantage when Irving hit an improbable floater.

Almost every fan in the arena was standing for the final play of the game. As cameras panned around the arena, searching for shots of Nets fans hollering, it was impossible to zoom in on a frame that didn't include orange-and-blue sweatshirts and hats.

In the final 3 minutes and 41 seconds, the Nets went on a game-sealing 7-0 run. In the Knicks' final seven possessions, RJ Barrett missed a field goal, Wayne Ellington's 3-point attempt clanked off the rim and Julius Randle missed a layup. Ellington traveled, Marcus Morris missed, Randle turned the ball over and Irving stole the ball from Ellington.

Then Irving hit a dagger, sealing the Nets' first victory of the Irving era.

"It's the same shot he hit to win the championship against Golden State," Barrett said. "It's tough. I was right there. There's nothing else that you can do about that."

Irving, who scored 50 points in the Nets' opening-night loss to the Timberwolves, set a record for the most points (76) scored by a Nets player in the first two games of a season, according to Elias Sports Bureau research.

As Irving and his teammates made their way back to the locker room, Nets fans streamed toward the exits, singing "Brooklyn's better" before disappearing out the doors of Barclays Center and into the chilly October air. Even if it was just for one night, Nets fans could claim they run the city.

NEW ORLEANS -- For the first time in 15 years, the Dallas Mavericks are 2-0 to begin a season. And they have done so on the backs of their two superstars, Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis.

Doncic finished with a triple-double, and Porzingis came up big on both sides of the floor, as the Mavericks took down the New Orleans Pelicans 123-116.

"It means a lot," Doncic said of the 2-0 start. "Everybody is happy after this win. It's just the start. We have to keep going and hopefully at the same time make the playoffs."

It was the ninth career triple-double for Doncic, who finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. That ups his own NBA record for the most by a player before turning 21 years old.

Doncic controlled the game in the fourth quarter, coming up with big buckets when the Mavericks needed them the most.

After trailing by as many as 10 points in the fourth, New Orleans tied the game at 109 after a jumper by Brandon Ingram with 5:03 to play. The teams traded possessions, and with 4:24 left, Doncic took a feed from Porzingis to the hoop and finished with a layup while drawing contact. He knocked down the free throw to complete the three-point play.

Dallas pushed the lead to six, but once New Orleans cut it back to two with 2:12 to go, it was Doncic's time to shine once again.

On back-to-back possessions, Doncic hit a long finger roll in the lane after driving past Kenrich Williams and then nailed a sky-high, step-back 3-pointer off the glass to give Dallas a 120-113 lead with 1:23 to go.

"That was lucky," Doncic said of the banked-in 3. "What can I say? You know, I love those plays at the end of the game and taking on that responsibility."

In two games, Doncic has scored 59 points -- tying him with Isiah Thomas for the most by any player under 21 in the first two games of an NBA season, according research from ESPN Stats & Information.

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said Doncic was "brilliant" in the last two minutes but also mentioned how big Delon Wright's defense was. According to ESPN Stats & Info data, Pelicans shooters were 5-of-16 when guarded by Wright, and he had a key steal with 14.8 to go when he poked the ball free from Josh Hart after Hart secured a rebound.

"Delon Wright's game tonight, we haven't seen defense like that since Jason Kidd was here," Carlisle said. "The play at the end when he stole the ball on the rebound was a microcosm of the night he had."

While Doncic controlled the tempo in the second half, it was Porzingis who led the way in the first half by scoring 17 of his 24 points. The 7-foot-3 Porzingis was able to make his presence felt defensively throughout the entire game with five blocks.

"I think guys did a really good job of running shooters off the line, and that made them drive towards me." Porzingis said. "I was there and trying to do my best and protect the rim."

After the first quarter, it didn't look like it was going to be Dallas' night. New Orleans took a 41-27 lead while shooting 72% from the floor and tying a franchise record with 14 assists in the first quarter.

But Dallas battled back, and after taking the lead with 3:31 left in the second quarter, the Mavericks never trailed again.

The Mavericks outscored New Orleans 45-23 in the second quarter.

"I thought the second quarter was disastrous defensively for us," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. "We were bad in transition. We were bad keeping the ball in front of us. We were bad getting out to 3-point shooters."

Porzingis said when he checked back into the game in the second quarter -- with Dallas down by 10 points -- he told his teammates they needed to step up and put it in a different gear defensively.

"We got out there with more energy and more intensity and were more vocal. That got our energy up," Porzingis said. "We got some stops, and that got us going into the game. We tried to keep that high energy throughout the game, and it worked for us."

And while the Mavericks, who have missed the playoffs the past three seasons, did start 2-0, it didn't mean much to Porzingis.

"It is what it is," he said. "We have two wins. We have 80 more games. On to the next one."

WASHINGTON -- The first World Series game in the nation's capital in 86 years won't exactly go down as a classic contest to remember, but the Houston Astros don't care about baseball elegance or splendor. They just needed the W. The Astros will enjoy their 4-1 victory Friday, which included baserunners all over the place, some magical 68 mph curveballs from Zack Greinke and a Houston bullpen that tossed 4⅓ scoreless innings, and means we won't see the first World Series sweep since 2012.

The World Series now reads Washington Nationals 2, Astros 1 as we head into the crucial Game 4 on Saturday night that will feature Patrick Corbin for the Nationals against against rookie Jose Urquidy for the Astros. That pen delivered in Game 3 as Josh James, Brad Peacock, Will Harris, Joe Smith and Roberto Osuna allowed two hits in getting the final 13 outs. James got a big out in the fifth inning and Harris, who has been the team's best reliever in the postseason, escaped a two-on jam in the sixth and retired all five batters he faced.

The Nationals had their chances off Greinke, leaving 12 runners stranded in the game. They went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, the 17th time in World Series history a team has gone 0-for-10 or worse with RISP and the first time since the 2008 Phillies went an all-time worst 0-for-13.

It was a grind-it-out win for the Astros and now we have a series. Nationals fans also learned a valuable lesson: Welcome to the World Series. It's never easy. They should also take some advice from longtime first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, however: "We've lost a baseball game before. Everybody will be OK."

Considering the Astros won 107 games, a sweep was an unrealistic belief anyway. "It's a really good team," Zimmerman said. "If we don't play good baseball, we'll lose. Stay positive. If we keep putting guys on base like we did tonight, I'll take our chances with getting the big hit for the rest of the series."

Some quick thoughts:

• James faced just one batter in the fifth inning when the Astros were up 3-1, but it was one of the more dramatic moments of the game. After Asdrubal Cabrera had ripped a two-out double to right field to put runners at second and third and knock Greinke from the game -- Josh Reddick made a nice bare-hand grab as the ball bounded off the wall to hold Adam Eaton at third -- James came in to face Ryan Zimmerman.

James got ahead with two high strikes and then threw a 98 mph heater up and in that spun Zimmerman on his rear end and elicited a chorus of boos from the crowd (and a visit from the trainer and manager Dave Martinez). Zimmerman regrouped and ran the count full, but James threw a riding 3-2 changeup to get Zimmerman swinging. James had thrown the same pitch at 2-2. You don't see too many back-to-back changeups in righty-on-righty situations, particularly from a guy who throws 98. Interesting sequence there from James and catcher Robinson Chirinos.

"Good pitch," Zimmerman said. "The 2-2 one didn't move as much as the 3-2 one. But I like my at-bat there. Face a guy throwing 97, 98 mph with a good slider, to battle back and get it to a full count. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap. 3-2 changeup. That's a pretty good pitch right there."

• Martinez faced a tough managerial decision when starter Anibal Sanchez came up to the plate in the bottom of the fourth with Victor Robles on third and one out and the Astros up 2-1. There were defensible decisions both ways on whether to hit for him.

Don't let him hit: Getting that run in there is vital and Sanchez is one of the worst-hitting pitchers in the majors (.115 this year with 24 strikeouts in 52 at-bats, .084 in his career). Plus, the top of the Houston lineup was coming up in the fifth for the third time through order, and Sanchez's numbers this season were terrible the third time through (.587 OPS allowed the first time, .702 the second time and .923 the third time).

Let him hit: Have you seen the Nationals' bullpen? Take out Sanchez and you still have to get 15 more outs, with games Saturday and maybe Sunday. Plus, with the infield playing in, maybe Sanchez can squeeze in a lucky hit or something.

My initial thought was Martinez made the right move, that 15 outs is a lot to ask from that bullpen crew. But after looking up Sanchez's third-time-through numbers and knowing the Astros had put a lot of baserunners on against him, I think the right call was going to the pinch hitter and then giving Joe Ross or Wander Suero the fifth inning and praying.

Sanchez would come to the plate; he ended up striking out on a bunt attempt, and Trea Turner squibbed a ball in front of the plate that Greinke made a nice play on for the final out. Sanchez then gave up a run in the fifth and Chirinos hit his home run in the sixth, so Martinez's decision didn't look great in retrospect, but I don't think he deserves to get hammered for it.

"I seriously thought about it," Martinez said. Indeed, before Robles hit his RBI triple, Tanner Rainey had started getting loose in the bullpen. "I liked the way Sanchez was pitching. He was only at 60 pitches. ... I thought at 2-1 the game was still fairly close."

• Another weird move came when Greinke batted in the second inning with runners on first and third and one out. Unlike Sanchez, Greinke is probably the best-hitting pitcher in the majors. He hit .280 this season and slugged .580, with three home runs and eight extra-base hits in 50 at-bats. Oddly, Greinke laid down a bunt, which moved Chirinos to second but kept Reddick at third base. Given that Sanchez doesn't throw hard, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to have Greinke swing away (there were only 22 sacrifice bunts in the majors all season in that situation). George Springer then grounded out.

• How to explain the bottom of the sixth? Well ... there were 31 pitches before a ball was put into play. Yes, this game lasted more than four hours. The inning went strikeout, walk, stolen base, walk, pitching change, a foul ball that rebounded into Turner's vulnerable area, a visit from the trainer, a strikeout and finally Eaton grounded out to first to end the inning. Not the kind of inning that makes baseball fun again.

• It's always funny how itchy managers are with their bullpens in the postseason. One bad outing often means you get demoted in the pecking order. Ryan Pressly was great for the Astros in the regular season, and even though manager AJ Hinch said he threw the ball well in Game 2 when he got nickel-and-dimed in that six-run inning, he didn't appear in this game. Meanwhile, the much-maligned Nationals bullpen received two scoreless innings from Ross in his first appearance of the postseason and a clean nine-pitch inning from Suero. That can at least give Martinez a little confidence if he has to go deeper in his pen than just Tanner Rainey, Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson.

• With Urquidy starting, that means Hinch will probably need some innings from his bullpen, although Urquidy looked really good against the Yankees in the ALCS. There are some suddenly some questions here, however. Peacock walked two batters and had to be pulled in favor of Harris after recording just one out. Pressly hasn't been the same since injuring his knee in August and has allowed 12 hits and eight runs in 3.1 innings in the postseason. Unless Urquidy can go five or six innings, Hinch will have to figure out get through 27 outs.

• Alex Bregman went 0-for-5, including 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position. He did homer in Game 2, but he's down to .208/.367/.396 in scoring position. He also faced the rare indignity of the Nationals intentionally walking Michael Brantley to load the bases in the sixth inning to face him. Fernando Rodney induced a hard 102 mph groundout to shortstop. Hard contact, bad luck. Bregman also lined out on a 99.3 mph shot to shortstop in the ninth, so the swings looked a lot better than the box score line.

• There were five stolen bases in Game 3 -- four by the Astros as they ran on Nats catcher Kurt Suzuki, who threw out just 10 percent of baserunners this season (they were 45 of 50 against him). Suzuki later left with an injury and Yan Gomes usually catches Corbin anyway.

"I just felt a little thing in my hip on that block and I would be doing a disservice to the team if I was still playing," Suzuki said. "I tried to fight through it but I just, I couldn't, and I wouldn't have been helping the team."

Still, keep an eye on the running game the rest of the series. The Nationals led the NL in steals during the season. Who says small ball is dead?

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Dawson Cram has always had a NASCAR giant as one of his career mentors, but that teacher takes on a little extra importance this weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

Cram, who has been guided up the ranks by four-time Gander Outdoors Truck Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday, will make his fourth Truck Series start on Saturday at the .526-mile paper clip, with Hornaday offering words of advice just as he has for much of Cram’s youth.

“It’s pretty amazing to have one of the greatest behind you, backing you helping you out,” Cram told SPEED SPORT. “Ron is actually my mom’s godfather, so that’s how I met him. He came over from California back in the 90s, around the same time my grandpa came over. My dad (Kevin Cram) was actually his crew chief on the No. 16 NAPA truck at DEI back in the day, so there’s a lot of cool ties.

“It’s just neat to be able to say I have someone like him in my corner. He’s a great mentor.”

The fact that this weekend’s race is the NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 wasn’t lost on Cram, either.

As soon as he heard about the Hall’s sponsorship of the event, he immediately picked up the phone and called Hornaday, wanting to recognize the man who has helped him “immensely” in a very special way.

“We actually put a ‘Ron Hornaday: seven-time champion, NASCAR Hall of Famer’ sticker on the bed of the truck. When I found out that the race was going to be the Hall of Fame 200, then I immediately gave Ron a shout and asked him if I could put his name on the bed of the truck with the Hall of Fame logo,” Cram explained. “He gave me his blessing to do just that and I’m very thankful to have him on there and give him some payback for all the help he’s given me over the years.

“He’ll also be the Grand Marshal tomorrow, so that’s pretty cool too.”

True to the decal adorning Cram’s No. 33 Chevrolet – appropriately the same number that Hornaday won his final two Truck Series titles in with Kevin Harvick Inc. in 2007 and 2009 – the Palmdale, Calif., native has seven overall NASCAR championships, which includes his four Truck crowns (1996, ’98, 2007, ’09) and back-to-back Featherlite Southwest Tour titles in 1992 and 1993, the first to do so in that series.

Cram appreciates the fact that, driving for Reaume Brothers Racing this weekend at Martinsville, he has a chance to carry the same number as the driver that helped propel him to where he’s at today.

“That’s an honor for me,” Cram said. “It’s a cool parallel now that we’ll get to share together.”

The good news for Cram is that with only 32 trucks entered for this weekend’s race, he doesn’t have to worry about failing to qualify, which happened to him during the spring Martinsville truck race in April.

Instead, he can focus on what he needs to be successful in Saturday’s race, which the 18-year-old did throughout a pair of 50-minute practice sessions Friday afternoon at Martinsville.

“We’re just looking at long-run speed for the third stage,” Cram noted. “It’s just trying to get it figured out, making sure the thing handles good and then about making changes throughout tomorrow’s race. We don’t really have an angle except to keep it in one piece and keep all four tires on it.

“It’s Martinsville,” Cram chuckled. “If you can do those two things, you’ll have a pretty decent day.”

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Todd Gilliland may have found the key he needs to unlock victory lane at Martinsville Speedway and end a two-year NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series winless drought.

Gilliland tipped on Friday after practice that he and his Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 4 team brought a new tool to the .526-mile paper clip, and at least early on, it seems to be paying off.

The third-generation driver turned a best single lap of ___ ( mph), but was solid in both sessions Friday afternoon when it came to long-run speed as well – a category he’s been sorely missing at Martinsville in the past.

“I think we’ve learned a lot,” Gilliland said. “I think this race is going to be a big step in the right direction. We’ve had a lot of short run speed. Every time I’ve been here, I’ve qualified up front almost every time. But just making it last throughout the run was almost impossible. We’ve got a little bit different front end package this time that will not take as much load and will hopefully stay turning throughout the whole race.

“I told everyone today, this is the best I’ve felt past five laps on my truck here in a long time,” Gilliland added. “We’ll see how it goes. You know, I can still be wrong. The track just rubbers up so much that you get so tight as you go. It changes a lot, and even changed a lot in that last practice, so we’re just going to keep working towards that goal of making it run longer, better.

“Hopefully we’ll be there at the end when they’re ready to wave the checkered flag on Saturday.”

Gilliland’s best finish in four starts at the Virginia bullring is fifth, achieved in the fall of 2017, his debut race at the track with Kyle Busch Motorsports.

– Tyler Ankrum has called Martinsville his “worst track on the schedule” for much of the season, and despite two solid practice sessions on Friday, that description hasn’t changed for the teenager.

However, he does have a plan to stay cool under pressure as he attempts to tame the “Half Mile of Mayhem”.

“Man, I don’t know; there’s still something in this place that just weakens me. This place is like my kryptonite,” said Ankrum. “There’s just something about this track where I can’t really necessarily wrap my head around it. Usually the easiest way for me to kind of calm myself down and kind of wrap my head around the track is just to think of it mechanically, not driving-wise. It’s easier for me to sit there and think about shocks and springs and cambers and track-bar heights and wedges and all that than thinking about what I’m going to do different on the race track.

“Just for me to calm myself down that way, it’s been helping a lot today.”

– Meanwhile, Ross Chastain’s plan is already well defined for what he hopes to accomplish on Saturday at Martinsville.

The Florida watermelon farmer intends to win, and win big.

“I just want to win anything and everything,” Chastain said. “I want to win the wheelbarrow races they have at Daytona — it doesn’t matter. I also know this opportunity with Niece Motorsports and what (owner) Al Niece has provided … (general manager) Cody Efaw and the whole group. What he’s given us to work with could be ‘once-in-a-lifetime’. This might be my last shot with this kind of opportunity.

“So I want to do right by him and all the boys and girls — and I’m going to say the same thing next year. I want to take advantage of the opportunities, because I do know how good it is. I’ve come to Martinsville with a 14th-place truck—practiced 14th, qualified 14th, finished 14^th — and I got fired because I ran 14th. So I know how good this opportunity is.”

Chastain will move up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series next year with Kaulig Racing, and he could have a shot to begin building toward NASCAR’s Triple Crown – winning all three national series titles in his career.

That would start with a championship this season, but Chastain isn’t worried about the future yet.

“That’s nowhere on my radar,” Chastain noted. “I’ve got rolling goals that always evolve, and they haven’t evolved to there yet.”

BARRIE, Ontario -- Hockey Hall of Famer Dale Hawerchuk is fighting stomach cancer.

The 56-year-old former Winnipeg Jets star is getting chemotherapy treatment after taking a leave of absence as coach of the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League in September.

"The chemo has hit me pretty hard," Hawerchuk told NHL.com. "I do it one week and it breaks the body down and then the next week I take a break and build my body up so I can do it again. I have to do that for two months. I really struggle to eat and have a feeding tube, but the last few days I've been able to eat a little bit, too. You've got to keep your nutrition up.

"For some reason the Lord put me in this kind of fight and I'm ready to fight it. I want to live to tell the story."

Hawerchuk has coached Barrie since the 2010-11 season. He had 518 goals and 891 assists in 1,888 regular-season games with Winnipeg, Buffalo, St. Louis and Philadelphia. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001.

CHIBA, Japan – Even though Typhoon Bualoi washed out play at the Zozo Championship on Friday, it was still an eventful day for some players in the field.

A group of players that included Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth ventured into nearby Narita to watch a movie (“Joker”) as the storm moved over the area.

They took a pair of SUVs provided by the tournament to the movie, but when the movie ended the storm had forced road closures and traffic issues. The group took shelter in a nearby Domino’s Pizza and waited about an hour and a half before the roads cleared enough to make it back to the hotel.

The group also included Gary Woodland, Bubba Watson, Ryan Palmer and Woods’ girlfriend, Erica Herman.

“What a day for the books. Got back to hotel, got treatment, had lunch, worked out, stretched, showered, movie, stuck at movie theatre because of floods, walked to dominoes with the guys, made our way home two hours later, treatment again, now back in my hotel room #PGATourLife,” Thomas tweeted.

According to one member of the group, they spent the time eating pizza and talking, and Woods went largely unnoticed and was asked to take just two selfies.

Discontent is imminent in cricket's global boardroom as all member boards face the prospect of a reduction in their share from the ICC's central revenues.

The reduction is likely on account of - among other factors - ICC's rising operational costs, hosting extra events, and the addition of two new Full Members. In quantum, the BCCI stands to lose the most, with its projected revenue for the ICC having dipped to US$372 million from the US$405 million that had been originally forecast - the former figure was what new BCCI president Sourav Ganguly referred to on the day he took over. But smaller boards, more dependent on the ICC pay-out, might feel the squeeze more; six boards were forecast revenues of US$128 million over eight years, which has now dipped to approximately US$115 million.

Ganguly has made it clear he will fight for India's share of ICC revenues, and together with the BCCI's objection to the ICC plan of an extra event in the calender's post-2023 cycle, a showdown between the ICC and BCCI is gaining momentum.

The ICC and its members agreed upon a new financial model in 2017, which rolled back changes in revenue distribution worked out by the cricket boards from India, England and Australia, referred to as the Big Three, who had granted themselves a larger share of the global revenues.

The way the ICC's rights deals work means that these are not final but only projected figures. The original targets could still be hit, and it's important to note that the revenue distribution model is based on percentage, and not actual figures. And those percentages remain the same. The calculations for the 2017 model were based on the projection that the ICC earns US$2.7 billion from the 2016-2023 rights cycle. Those earnings include money from broadcast rights and also commercial rights - it is these commercial rights deals that are variable and could change, resulting in a change in actual (not percentage) distribution.

The other variable is the costs the ICC incurs, in hosting its events and in running itself - and this is something the BCCI flagged as a concern back in 2017. "The ICC operation and production costs are ballooning and that has taken a hit on the ICC distribution to members," one official told ESPNcricinfo.

Partly, this is a problem of accountancy. The costs projected in the 2017 model are thought by some officials to be too low - not as unrealistic as those projected in the Big Three model in 2014, but still low. So as real costs have turned out to be higher, the distribution of funds has been hit.

But costs are also projected to be higher because of the introduction of an extra ICC event in this cycle - the first U19 Women's T20 World Cup, to be played in Bangladesh in 2021. And switching the Champions Trophy to a T20 World Cup in 2021 also has an impact: with twice the number of teams, a T20 World Cup is considered to have twice the cost of a smaller event like the Champions Trophy. There could, additionally, be another qualifying event for the 2021 T20 World Cup to factor in.

Further, since the 2017 financial model was confirmed, two new Full Members have arrived, in Ireland and Afghanistan, and though their shares are lower at US$40 million each, it is still a share from the Full Member pie - which was projected to be US$1.536 billion (out of the US$2.7 billion total rights earning) - that wasn't accounted for.

The thing to bear in mind is the fluidity. After a successful men's World Cup in England earlier this summer, the ICC is optimistic about further commercial growth in the remaining three men's world tournaments in the current cycle (the T20 World Cups in 2020 and 2021 and the World Cup in 2023). Commercial deals around those tournaments are yet to be closed, especially the latter two, both of which are in India.

It is those two tournaments that Ganguly referred to when he spoke about the revenues being "heavy at the back-end" of the cycle. The ICC pays out members their revenues twice every year in the rights cycle (in January and July) but because the value of each tournament is different (both from a broadcast and commercial perspective) the pay-outs vary. So any tournament in India will always be worth more in a rights deal and as a result the pay-outs are greater once those tournaments are over. One estimate has the BCCI receiving as much as 75% of their total due only across these two tournaments.

"One estimate has the BCCI receiving as much as 75% of their total due from the ICC only across the T20 World Cups in 2020 and 2021. This is what Sourav Ganguly referred to when he said revenues were "heavy at the back-end" of the cycle."

But that members, and especially the BCCI, are talking about potential reductions will assume greater importance in coming months. Ganguly has already said earlier this month that he will push for a greater share in ICC revenues for the BCCI. And in its briefings with member boards, the ICC is understood to have repeatedly pointed out it remains among the leanest organisations in global sport and that its operations costs do not eat into overall profits and affect member distributions. Rising ICC costs, or the BCCI's irritation with them, was one of the key drivers behind the Big Three takeover.

The BCCI is now freed of its post-Lodha compulsions and is back in proper administrative form. The objection to the extra tournament is a sign that muscles are getting ready to be flexed. Later in November when the BCCI holds its first annual general meeting since 2016, it is believed that a firmer and clearer stance vis-à-vis the ICC will also emerge.

Andrew Tye has been ruled out of the T20I series against Sri Lanka due to an elbow injury.

Tye suffered what is suspected ligament damage when throwing during the team's main training session on Friday afternoon and will travel to Sydney for assessment.

Australia will name a replacement ahead of the second match in Brisbane on Wednesday meaning that for the opening game in Adelaide tomorrow they are a player light in the squad.

The remaining pace bowlers are Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Kane Richardson and Billy Stanlake with Richardson the favoured to play alongside Starc and Cummins.

Tye, who was not part of Australia's previous T20I series against India in February, has taken 37 wickets in 26 T20Is although his economy rate stands at 8.87 which is the fourth highest of a bowler to send down at least 500 deliveries.

Captain Aaron Finch has recovered from the side strain that kept him out of Victoria's Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup matches in Perth.

"I was a bit worried about throwing yesterday, it wasn't the most comfortable thing over the last few days in Perth, but getting here and batting yesterday and today, throwing a fair bit gave me a lot of confidence," Finch said