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• 'Everybody called me a liar' - LeBron thrilled by impressive Knecht

  LeBron James heaped praise on Dalton Knecht after he tied the NBA's single-game rookie record in the Los Angeles Lakers' win over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday.

  He scored nine 3-pointers, including going 6-for-6 in the third quarter, while scoring a career-high 37 points in the Lakers' 124-118 win, their sixth on the bounce.

  Knecht now shares the record with Rodrigue Beaubois (2010), Yogi Ferrell (2017) and Utah's Keyonte George (2024).

  The Lakers' six-game winning streak is their longest since February 2021, while they have also extended their perfect home record this season to 7-0.

  James, who had 26 points and 12 assists, had previously said that he was a fan of Knecht, having watched him at Tennessee while he was in college.

  "Same s*** I saw last year," said James, when asked about being ahead of the curve in praising Knecht.

  "Everybody on the internet called me a liar. So, what am I now?

  "I watched him. I watched Tennessee a lot. I did not think he would fall to us. I thought it would be impossible."

  Knecht was the 17th overall in the 2024 NBA draft, and James brushed off the suggestion that the Lakers 'found' him.

  "They [The Lakers] didn't 'find' DK," he added. "The other 16 teams f***** it up. Did anybody watch him? You don't 'find' an SEC player of the year."

• NFL: Texans bounce back, extend Cowboys' woes

  Joe Mixon's 109 rushing yards and three touchdowns helped get the Houston Texans back on track with Monday's 34-10 win over the floundering Dallas Cowboys.

  Houston (7-4) snapped a two-game losing streak behind Mixon's powerful running and a defence that sacked Cowboys' fill-in quarterback Cooper Rush five times and forced two turnovers, including a fumble Derek Barnett returned 28 yards for a touchdown that gave the Texans a 27-10 lead in the fourth quarter.

  Dallas (3-7) has now lost five straight, its longest skid since dropping seven in a row in 2015, and fell to 0-5 at home. The Cowboys have been outscored by 118 points (187-69) at AT&T Stadium, the third-largest negative differential through five home games in a season in NFL history.

  Rush did throw a 64-yard touchdown pass to KaVontae Turpin in his second straight start subbing for an injured Dak Prescott, and finished with a career-high 354 passing yards with one interception while completing 32 of 55 attempts.

  C.J. Stroud threw for 257 yards with an interception for Houston, which extended its lead over the second-place Indianapolis Colts to two games in the AFC South.

  The Texans never trailed after Mixon ripped off a 45-yard touchdown run on the game's opening drive, and the veteran running back added a 1-yard scoring plunge late in the first quarter to give Houston a 14-0 lead.

  Turpin got Dallas on the board by taking a short pass from Rush and breaking free from the Houston defence nine seconds into the second quarter, but the Cowboys were shut out in the second half after pulling to within 17-10 on Brandon Aubrey's 53-yard field goal with just under six minutes left before half-time.

  Burnett's strip sack of Rush and return of the resulting fumble helped put the game away with 12:31 left, and Mixon tacked on his final touchdown of the night with 3:16 remaining to cap a 35-yard drive that began after the Texans stopped the Cowboys on downs.

   

• Mahomes to use Chiefs' first loss of 2024 as 'spark'

  Patrick Mahomes said the Kansas City Chiefs will use their first loss since Christmas Day 2023 as fuel after the Buffalo Bills halted their unbeaten start to the season. 

  Josh Allen scrambled for a stunning 26-yard touchdown with just over two minutes to play as the Bills improved to 9-2 with a 30-21 win over the reigning Super Bowl champions.

  The result ended the Chiefs' 15-game winning streak, a run that began after they lost to the Los Vegas Raiders on Christmas Day last year and included their dramatic triumph over the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LVIII.

  The Chiefs had started this season 9-0 to take control of the race for the AFC's top seed, but they could have few complaints about Sunday's result.

  The Bills outgained the Chiefs by 366 yards to 259, also recording 24 first downs to Kansas City's 19 and enjoying almost nine more minutes in possession.

  Mahomes, however, was relaxed about the end of his team's winning streak, saying: "The undefeated thing was cool, but that's not our ultimate goal.

  "It's a good football team, so there's nothing to hang your head about. We feel like we can play better, so we will get back to work and try to use this as a spark so that we can be a better football team in the end."

  The Chiefs rank just 16th in the NFL for yards per game (337.9) and 11th for points per game (24) in 2024, with many of their victories – including against the Denver Broncos in Week 10 and the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1 – coming via last-gasp defensive or special teams plays.

  Mahomes actually feels the team could benefit from a reality check, adding: "I'm hoping that [losing] is a benefit.

  "I'm not going to say I or we are relaxed, but at the same time I feel like we were just coming away with these wins at the end of the games. 

  "I think it's going to spark us to have more urgency, especially at the start of football games, especially with the offense, and that comes from me and turning the ball over on the first drive. It's something you can't do in big games like this."

  No quarterback has thrown more interceptions than Mahomes' 11 (level with Geno Smith and Jordan Love) this season, while a passer rating of 90.3 ranks him a lowly 20th among all players at the position.