WASHINGTON (AP) — Josh Hart had 23 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists for his third triple-double of the season, Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 points and 13 rebounds, and the New York Knicks beat the Washington Wizards 126-106 on Monday night for their eighth straight victory.
It was the second game in three nights between the teams. On Saturday night, the Knicks (23-10) outlasted the Wizards 136-132 in overtime behind 55 points from Jalen Brunson.
Jonas Valanciunas equaled his season high with 22 points for Washington (5-25). Alex Sarr and Malcolm Brogdon each had 18.
There was a scary moment with 3:07 to play in the third quarter when Washington rookie guard Bub Carrington fell backward while guarding a player and hit a Knicks player’s knee and then the back of his head on the court.
Carrington left in a wheelchair, covering his face and did not return with a post-traumatic headache.
BULLS 115, HORNETS 108, OT
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Coby White narrowly missed his first career triple-double, finishing with 23 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, and Torrey Craig scored 18 with five 3-pointers after halftime as Chicago held on to beat Charlotte in overtime.
Nikola Vucevic added 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Bulls (15-18).
Miles Bridges had 31 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists for the Hornets (7-25), who’ve lost 16 of 17.
Trailing by 3 in regulation, Bridges missed a corner 3 to tie it and Vucevic was fouled. But the Bulls center missed both free throws, giving Charlotte another chance. This time, Bridges connected on a leaning 3-pointer with 2 seconds left to send the game into OT.
The extra period was all Chicago.
The Bulls raced to an eight-point lead as White scored on a drive and Vucevic and Craig knocked down 3s.
The Ball brothers matchup never materialized. LaMelo missed the game wrist soreness. Brandon Miller (sprained ankle) also sat for the Hornets. Zach LaVine (toe soreness) and Ayo Dosunmu (soleus strain) were out for Chicago.
CLIPPERS 116, PELICANS 113
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Norman Powell scored 35 points, James Harden hit go-ahead free throws with 17.9 seconds left and Los Angeles held on to defeat New Orleans.
With the Pelicans — losers of 10 straight and 19 of 20 — trying to tie the game, Harden adroitly fouled rookie center Yves Missi, whose 12-point, nine-rebound and five-block performance was tarnished by his missed free throw that could have tied it at 114 with 4.3 seconds left.
Officials prematurely blew the whistle because they thought Missi’s foul shot missed the rim. They called for a jump ball at center court after video review.
Ivica Zubac won the tip back to Harden, who made two more free throws with less than two seconds remaining to complete his 27-point performance. CJ McCollum shot from half court and hit the front rim.
Zubac finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds for the Clippers, who’ve won three straight and five of six.
NUGGETS 132, JAZZ 121
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Nikola Jokic had 36 points, 22 rebounds and 11 assists to lift Denver to a win over Utah Jazz.
Russell Westbrook also had a triple-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists and finished 7 for 7 from the field with zero turnovers.
Jamal Murray also had 10 assists — the Nuggets had 38 as a team — to go along with 20 points.
Jordan Clarkson scored 24, and Collin Sexton had 22 for the Jazz (7-24), who have lost three in a row.
Utah led 66-64 at the break, but Denver outscored the Jazz 34-23 in the third to build some separation.
Both teams were missing a starting forward. Denver’s Aaron Gordon sat out with a right calf strain and Utah’s John Collins missed his fourth straight game with a hip bruise.
KINGS 110, MAVERICKS 100
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — De’Aaron Fox scored 33 points, and Sacramento beat short-handed Dallas to give Doug Christie his first win as the interim head coach after the Kings fired Mike Brown last week.
The Kings went on a 17-2 run to end the third quarter and take an 83-77 lead. Sacramento started the fourth on an 11-4 run, extending the lead to double digits on a 3-pointer by Trey Lyles.
Lyles had 14 points off the bench. DeMar DeRozan also had 14 points, and Domantas Sabonis had 17 points and 17 assists.
Dallas led by 18 in the first quarter before the Kings cut it to 60-56 at halftime.
The Mavericks were without Kyrie Irving (shoulder), Klay Thompson (illness), Dereck Lively II (hip) and Naji Marshall (suspension), in addition to Luka Doncic being out for at least the next month with a calf strain.
Spencer Dinwiddie and PJ Washington both had season highs for the Mavericks. Dinwiddie scored 30 points and Washington had 28.
CAVALIERS 113, WARRIORS 95
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Darius Garland scored 25 points, Donovan Mitchell scored 23 and Cleveland extended their winning streak to seven games with a victory over Golden State.
Dean Wade had 10 points and 13 rebounds for Cleveland, and Jarrett Allen had 12 points and nine rebounds.
Moses Moody led the Warriors with 19 points. Jonathan Kuminga had 18 points with 10 rebounds, and Trayce Jackson-Davis had 16 points and a game-high 16 rebounds.
Dennis Schroder had 12 points, and Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins each added 11 for the Warriors.
76ERS 125, TRAIL BLAZERS 103
PORTLAND (AP) — Joel Embiid had 37 points and nine rebounds as Philadelphia defeated Portland.
Tyrese Maxey added 23 points for the Sixers. Kelly Oubre Jr. had 15 points and eight steals, and Guerschon Yabusele had 16 points off the bench.
Anfernee Simons led the Blazers with 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting. Deni Avdija had 17 points but also 10 turnovers. Shaedon Sharpe, Toumani Camara and Deandre Ayton each scored 12.
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, right, looks to shoot the ball over Washington Wizards forward Alexandre Sarr (20) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
HAVANA (AP) — Trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport Thursday as white-gloved Cuban soldiers marched out of a plane carrying urns with remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela.
Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The soldiers' shoes clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and placed the urns on a long table next to the pictures of those killed. Tens of thousands of people paid their respects, saluting the urns or holding their hand over their heart, many of them drenched from standing outside in a heavy downpour.
Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized over the past half-century.
The soldiers were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the Jan. 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.
State television also showed images of what it said were more than a dozen wounded combatants from the raid, accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez after arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. A man identified in state media as Col. Pedro Domínguez attended Thursday's ceremony in a wheelchair.
He said it was a “disproportionate attack” that killed 11 colleagues around him as they slept. Domínguez said he was committed to doing “whatever it takes to defend this people and to remain united in the face of threats from the United States.”
Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. have spiked, with Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.
Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those killed looking on nearby.
Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas called the slain soldiers “heroes” of an anti-imperialist struggle spanning both Cuba and Venezuela. In an apparent reference to the U.S., he said the “enemy” speaks of “high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy.
“We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother,” Álvarez said.
The events demonstrate that “imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.
Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, was among the thousands of Cubans who lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.
“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” Gómez said. “It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”
The 32 military personnel ranged in age from 26 to 60 and were part of protection agreements between the two countries.
Officials in Cuba have said they expect a massive demonstration Friday across from the U.S. Embassy to protest the deaths.
“People are upset and hurt ... many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.
In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes.
In December 1989, officials organized a ceremony to honor the more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in a war that defeated the South African army.
In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.
The latest mass burial is critical to honor those slain, said José Luis Piñeiro, a 60-year-old doctor who lived for four years in Venezuela.
“I don’t think Trump is crazy enough to come and enter a country like this, ours, and if he does, he’s going to have to take an aspirin or some painkiller to avoid the headache he’s going to get,” Piñeiro said. “These were 32 heroes who fought him. Can you imagine an entire nation? He’s going to lose.”
The remains arrived a day after the U.S. announced $3 million in additional aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa. The first flight took off on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.
Cuba had said on Wednesday that any contributions will be channeled through the government.
But U.S. State Department foreign assistance official Jeremy Lewin said Thursday that the U.S. was working with Cuba’s Catholic Church to distribute aid, as part of Washington's efforts to give assistance directly to the Cuban people.
“There’s nothing political about cans of tuna and rice and beans and pasta,” he said Thursday, warning that the Cuban government should not intervene or divert supplies. “We will be watching, and we will hold them accountable.”
Lewin said the Cuban government has a choice to: “Step down or better provide towards people.” Lewin added that “if there was no regime,” the U.S. would provide “billions and billions of dollars” in assistance, as well as investment and development: “That’s what lies on the other side of the regime for the Cuban people.”
Rodríguez, the Cuban foreign minister, said the U.S. government was “exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes.”
Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
People line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the remains are on display of the Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, as it sprinkles rain in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, are on display in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members pay their last respects to Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains are displayed during a ceremony in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Soldiers carry urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Adalberto Roque /Pool Photo via AP)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People line the streets of Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, to watch the motorcade carrying urns containing the remains of Cuban officers killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
