AP PHOTOS: A Libyan town comes together to make a beloved Ramadan dish

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Every year during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a Libyan town comes together to prepare — and share — one of their all-time favorite dishes: bazin.

In Tajoura, just east of Libya ’s capital of Tripoli, it's the perfect food for iftar, the evening meal when Muslims break the dawn-to-dusk fasting of Ramadan.

Savory and rich, bazin is usually made of unleavened barley flour and served with a rich stew full of vegetables and — hopefully — mutton. If those aren't available, which they often haven't been in the past decade and a half due to Libya's violence and turmoil, a simple tomato sauce will do.

Preparing it is a joint effort, and Tajoura residents of all ages are eager to help with roles from making the bread, handing it out to the poor or donating ingredients to the community.

Typically, the men of Tajoura volunteer to make the bread in a makeshift communal kitchen, using long wooden sticks to stir the barley flour water in large pots to make the dough.

Others then knead the dough, shaping it into large clumps that look a bit like giant dumplings, to be baked or steamed. Once ready, other volunteers hand out bazin to a people lined up outside, who eagerly wait to take it home for iftar.

Ramadan is a time of intense prayers, charity and spirituality.

And in Tajoura, it's also time for bazin.

This photo gallery by Yousef Murad was curated by Amr Nabil in Cairo.

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Libyan volunteers serve free traditional unleavened Libyan bread made out of barley for passing fasting people in Tajoura, east of Libya's capital Tripoli, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

Libyan volunteers serve free traditional unleavened Libyan bread made out of barley for passing fasting people in Tajoura, east of Libya's capital Tripoli, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

A Libyan volunteer shows a just made traditional unleavened Libyan bread made out of barley in Tajoura, east of Libya's capital Tripoli, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

Volunteers serve traditional unleavened Libyan bread made out of barley in Tajoura, east of Libya's capital Tripoli, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

Volunteers serve traditional unleavened Libyan bread made out of barley in Tajoura, east of Libya's capital Tripoli, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

Volunteers prepare Bazin, traditional Libyan dough bread made of barley or whole wheat flour and often served with stew in Tajoura, east of Libya's capital Tripoli, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

Libyan volunteers serve traditional unleavened Libyan bread made out of barley in Tajoura, east of Libya's capital Tripoli, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

Libyan volunteers serve traditional unleavened Libyan bread made out of barley in Tajoura, east of Libya's capital Tripoli, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

Libyan volunteers prepare Bazin, traditional Libyan dough bread made of barley or whole wheat flour and often served with stew in Tajoura, east of Libya's capital Tripoli, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

Wheat to prepare Bazin, a traditional Libyan dough bread made of barley or whole wheat flour and often served with stew in Tajoura, east of Libya's capital Tripoli, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

A man serves tea as volunteers prepare Bazin, a traditional Libyan dough bread made of barley or whole wheat flour and often served with stew in Tajoura, east of Libya's capital Tripoli, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

Libyan volunteers mixes the products to make traditional unleavened Libyan bread made out of barley in Tajoura, east of Libya's capital Tripoli, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad)

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — For the third straight season, the road to the NBA title goes through Oklahoma City.

And this latest No. 1 seed has put the Thunder in some storied basketball company.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his defending champs became the seventh team in NBA history to finish with its conference's best regular-season record in at least three consecutive years when Oklahoma City wrapped up the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming playoffs with a 128-110 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.

The list of NBA teams who topped their conference standings in at least three straight seasons encompasses most of the greatest groups of the past half-century: The dominant Celtics teams of the 1970s and 1980s, the Showtime Lakers, the storied 1990s Chicago Bulls, the 2000s Lakers and the 2010s Golden State Warriors.

After comfortably holding off the Clippers for their 19th win in 20 games, the defending NBA champion Thunder (64-16) joined that elite group by clinching the top seed over San Antonio (61-19) and the league's best overall record.

The Thunder said they don't take this achievement for granted, even as they move on to chase bigger goals over the next two months.

“It feels better for sure, not only because we've had to weather a little more (adversity)," said MVP Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 20 points and 11 assists before sitting out the fourth quarter. “But just repeating something and doing it again is always a little bit harder. It's a little more challenging. The league gets better. Players get better. For us to still have the best overall record through those ups and downs speaks volumes to the team. ... We always say at the beginning of the season that no matter what happened, we have to earn what we get to make it to the playoffs and our seeding, and we earned the first overall seed.”

The Thunder have been a powerhouse ever since they broke through two seasons ago to claim the best record in the West with 57 victories. After winning 68 games last year, they've become only the third team in NBA history to win at least 64 games in back-to-back seasons, joining the 1995-97 Bulls and the 2015-17 Warriors.

But they all know the playoffs are a stiffer test, and Oklahoma City will attempt to become the first team to win titles after having the NBA’s best record in back-to-back seasons since Michael Jordan’s Bulls did it in 1996 and 1997.

“It's a great accomplishment,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “No two seasons are the same, and this season was a lot different experience. ... When you win the championship, that kind of hangs over you as a team the next year. Everybody — including ourselves — you judge yourself against that. It's incredibly hard to be present in the next regular season. I learned so much from this team, because their ability to come in every day and just embrace the day and the challenge that we had that day is really impressive, and it's why I think we had the season that we did.”

Indeed, Oklahoma City began this season with a 24-2 surge that had the basketball world wondering whether this was the best regular-season team in NBA history. Injuries slowed the Thunder to a mere 18-12 from mid-December to the All-Star break — but they've regained their ruthless momentum with a 22-2 rampage since then.

The Thunder were at least tied for first place in the conference for every day of the season, becoming only the seventh such wire-to-wire winner in league history. Golden State did it most recently in 2016.

“I thought we did a good job of fighting through everything we saw this year, and it’s paid off,” said Chet Holmgren, who scored 30 points against the Clips.

The injury problems might have prevented the Thunder from chasing the best single-season records in NBA history, but they also might have left Oklahoma City a bit fresher for the playoff challenges ahead: Isaiah Joe and Cason Wallace are the only players to appear in 70 games this season.

The Thunder have two more games before several days off to prepare for another postseason run, and Gilgeous-Alexander thinks they'll be ready.

"We understand how to win, and the formula for winning," said Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored at least 20 points in his 141st consecutive game despite not making a free throw for the first time all season. “We understand that everybody doing that is the key to success. It's not the razzle-dazzle and the stuff that's cute. Understanding that getting the job done every night, and how to get it done, I think we've built that muscle more than anything.”

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, center, shoots as Los Angeles Clippers guard Kris Dunn, left, and forward Derrick Jones Jr., right, defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, right, tries to get past Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)