NEW YORK (AP) — Karl-Anthony Towns had 26 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his first triple-double in more than three years, helping the New York Knicks defeat the Dallas Mavericks 128-113 on Tuesday night.
OG Anunoby had 35 points, and Josh Hart added 16 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his ninth triple-double of the season. New York (45-26) shot 59.6% and won its second straight.
Naji Marshall had a career-high 38 points, and Brandon Williams chipped in 22 points. The Mavericks (35-38) fell for the 10th time in 13 games.
HEAT 112, WARRIORS 86
MIAMI (AP) — Bam Adebayo scored 27 points, Tyler Herro scored 20 and Miami Heat spoiled Jimmy Butler’s return game with a one-sided win over Golden State.
Alec Burks scored 18 for Miami, which never trailed. The Heat were 17 for 25 from 3-point range.
Butler, in his first game back in Miami since a trade last month, had 11 points. Jonathan Kuminga scored 15, Brandin Podziemski had 14 and Gui Santos scored 13 for Golden State.
The Warriors played without Stephen Curry, held out for a second straight game with a pelvic contusion.
PISTONS 122, SPURS 96
DETROIT (AP) — Marcus Sasser scored a career-high 27 points in 26 minutes off the bench and Detroit routed San Antonio Spurs for their second consecutive victory without injured star Cade Cunningham.
Tobias Harris added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Pistons (41-32), who pulled within a percentage point of Milwaukee (40-31) for fifth place in the Eastern Conference. Jalen Duren had 14 points and seven assists, and Ausar Thompson finished with 14 points and six boards.
Cunningham, averaging 25.7 points and 9.2 assists, missed his second straight game with a bruised left calf. Sasser has filled the scoring void, also providing 20 points in 26 minutes Sunday during a 136-130 win over New Orleans.
The second-year guard from Houston entered Tuesday averaging 6.0 points per game. His previous career best was 26 in November 2023 at Milwaukee, early in his rookie season.
Devin Vassell had 26 points for the Spurs, and rookie Stephon Castle scored 19.
MAGIC 111, HORNETS 104
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Paolo Banchero scored 32 points, Franz Wagner had 26 points and Orlando used a late run for a win over Charlotte.
LaMelo Ball led the Hornets with 25 points and nine assists, while Josh Green and Nick Smith Jr. had 13 points each.
Orlando’s Wendell Carter Jr. had a game-high 11 rebounds. Banchero also had seven rebounds and six assists.
ROCKETS 121, HAWKS 114
HOUSTON (AP) — Jalen Green scored 32 points ahd had 11 rebounds and Houston beat Atlanta.
Fred VanVleet shot 5 of 14 from the field, including 3 for 8 from 3-point range, and went 8 for 8 from the line to add 21 points. Tari Eason had 14 rebounds.
Dyson Daniels led the Hawks with 19 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists and four steals. Trae Young added 19 points and 12 assists for Atlanta.
The Rockets took the lead with 1:13 remaining in the first quarter and did not give it up. The score was 65-48 by halftime, with Green scoring 14 points.
The Rockets led by 20 after three quarters. The Hawks pulled within 98-94 with 7:20 left after a 17-2 run.
The Rockets were outscored by the Hawks in the second half by 10 points.
GRIZZLIES 140, JAZZ 103
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Desmond Bane scored 21 points, Jaren Jackson had 19 and Memphis, playing without Ja Morant, used a dominant second half for a win over the Utah.
After getting hit in the face, Jackson left the court and went to the locker room with 7:39 left in the third quarter but returned to the bench late in the game. He wasn’t needed as the Grizzlies outscored the Jazz 76-38 in the second half for their second win in their last six games.
The Grizzlies have floundered since residing near the top of the standings earlier in the season. Once injuries hit, especially Morant’s aliments (currently a hamstring strain), Memphis has dropped out of most championship contender conversations.
Isaiah Collier scored 21 for the Jazz, who have dropped 13 of 14.
Utah’s top scorers John Collins (ankle), Lauri Markkanen (ill) and Jordan Clarkson (foot) all sat out.
The Jazz were hot from beyond the arc in the first half, hitting 13 of their first 19 attempts.
THUNDER 121, KINGS 105
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 32 points to lead the Oklahoma City to their seventh straight win and 60th of the season with a victory over the Sacramento.
Chet Holmgren added 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Alex Caruso scored 15 to give the NBA-leading Thunder their 14th win in 15 games.
Keegan Murray scored 28 points with nine 3-pointers and Zach LaVine added 19 to lead the Kings. Sacramento has dropped four straight games.
The Thunder broke out to a big lead in the first half that grew to 24 points. The Kings scored 16 straight early in the third quarter to get the deficit back into single digits but were never able to get closer than six the rest of the way.
CAVALIERS 122, TRAIL BLAZERS 111
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Darius Garland had 27 points and eight assists to Cleveland to a win over Portland.
Ty Jerome scored 25 points off the bench and Evan Mobley had 21 points and 12 rebounds in the win.
Portland’s Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe each had 18 points in the loss.
Cleveland (58-14) has a five-game lead over Boston for first place in the Eastern Conference with 10 games left to play.
Portland (32-41) is 3½ games behind Phoenix for 10th place in the Western Conference and the final spot in the play-in tournament.
The Cavaliers were without star guard Donovan Mitchell, who is managing a left groin injury.
New York Knicks' Mikal Bridges (25) defends a shot by Dallas Mavericks' Spencer Dinwiddie (26) during the second half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.
Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.
The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.
Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.
In Friday’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation, and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting and thus depriving some Cabinet members who were not convened of their due rights to deliberate on his decree.
Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.
Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”
Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.
Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.
South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.
South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.
Some observers say Yoon will likely retain a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.
On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.
No major violence occurred, but Yoon's stunt caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.
After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.
Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
