Suns fire coach after three games

The Phoenix Suns have fired coach Earl Watson three games in to the NBA season.

The Suns announced the firing Sunday night after hours of meetings at the team’s headquarters.

Assistant coach Jay Triano, a former head coach of the Toronto Raptors, was named interim coach. Triano was an assistant at Portland before coming to Phoenix last year.

Watson was promoted from assistant to interim coach of the Suns after Jeff Hornacek was fired Feb. 1, 2016. The interim tag was removed on April 19 of that year. With an extremely young team, the Suns struggled under Watson. He compiled a 33-85 record. Watson’s only full season was 2016-17, when the team went 24-58.

Baseball

RED SOX HIRE CORA » The Boston Red Sox hired Houston Astros bench coach Alex Cora as manager, turning to a player from their 2007 World Series championship roster to help the team out of its current playoff slump.

Cora, 42, replaces John Farrell, who led the Red Sox to the 2013 title and in the last two years claimed the first backto-back AL East championships in franchise history. But Boston also finished last twice in Farrell’s tenure, and the ballclub has won just one playoff game since winning it all in his first season.

NFL

TIMBERLAKE TO PERFORM AT SUPER BOWL » Justin Timberlake has finally been invited back to the Super Bowl halftime show, 14 years after the “wardrobe malfunction” with Janet Jackson cause a national controversy.

The NFL announced Sunday night that Timberlake will headline the Super Bowl halftime show Feb. 4 in Minnesota.

This will be the third time for Timberlake to perform at halftime, the most for any entertainer. Timberlake performed at the 2001 Super Bowl with N’Sync, and he sang “Rock Your Body” with Jackson in 2004 in Houston.

That performance concluded with Timberlake ripping her costume to reveal her right breast bare except for a nipple shield.