Harden outshines Suns in late surge

HOUSTON • James Harden single-handedly outscored the Phoenix Suns 17-10 over a key stretch of the fourth quarter on Saturday night, as the Houston Rockets beat the visitors 115-109 for their 12th straight National Basketball Association (NBA) win over their Western Conference rivals.

The 2018 Most Valuable Player finished with a team-leading 34 points for his fourth consecutive game with 30 or more points against the Suns.

The Rockets (15-7) won for the fourth time in their past five games, while the Suns, who were paced by a game-high 35 points from Devin Booker, dropped to 10-12.

REUTERS

Hamilton in MotoGP race with Rossi

PARIS • Six-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and MotoGP great Valentino Rossi are preparing for a ride swop in Spain today, with the former "super excited" at the prospect.

The pair are set to ride on Valencia's Ricardo Tormo circuit for the closed event organised by mutual sponsor Monster.

Italian Rossi hinted on his Instagram page that they "will have some fun soon", while Britain's Hamilton, a keen motorcycle rider, said that "just being on the same track as Valentino is going to be very, very surreal... because he's such an icon in the sport".

REUTERS

Season's first loss for 10-man Juve at Lazio

ROME • Lazio came from behind to beat Juventus 3-1, handing the Italian Serie A champions their first defeat of the season on Saturday night.

The hosts scored twice in the final 20 minutes through Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and substitute Felipe Caicedo after their opponents had Juan Cuadrado controversially sent off.

Juventus went ahead after Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season, but Luiz Felipe levelled for Lazio in first-half stoppage time.

REUTERS