Coby White scores 37, Josh Giddey adds 23 as Bulls beat Hornets 131-117 for 3rd straight win

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Coby White scored 37 points, shooting 6 of 8 from 3-point range, Josh Giddey added 23 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists and the Chicago Bulls rolled past the Charlotte Hornets 131-117 on Sunday for their third straight win.

Nikola Vucevic contributed 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls, who entered one game behind the Atlanta Hawks for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference.

Mark Williams had 22 points and nine rebounds for the Hornets, who have lost 10 of 12 games. K.J. Simpson and Jusuf Nurkic each had 18 points.

White continued to have success in Charlotte, a few hours from where he grew up in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and later played college basketball for the Tar Heels. In his last four games against the Hornets at the Spectrum Center, White has averaged 30.5 points.

He finished 12 of 16 from the field and had five assists.

Bulls: Patrick Williams always seems to play well in Charlotte, where he was born and raised, and Sunday was no exception. He scored 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting.

Hornets: Miles Bridges continues to struggle mightily from beyond the 3-point arc, shooting 18.5% (10 of 54) over the last eight games. Bridges spent the entire fourth quarter on the bench.

After falling behind by 10 early, the Bulls took control in the second quarter and built a 75-55 halftime lead behind White, who had four 3s in the second quarter including a heave from just inside midcourt to beat the first-half buzzer.

Charlotte finished 8 of 30 from beyond the arc.

Both teams are in action Tuesday night. The Bulls visit the Cavaliers, while the Hornets wrap up their home schedule against the Grizzlies.

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Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic (9) tries to knock the ball away from Charlotte Hornets center Jusuf Nurkic (11) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Chicago Bulls forward Matas Buzelis (14) brings the ball up court during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Chicago Bulls guard Coby White (0) brings the ball up court during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey (3) brings the ball up court during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Charlotte Hornets guard Seth Curry (30) reacts during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Charlotte Hornets center Jusuf Nurkic (11) reacts during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Chicago Bulls guard Coby White (0) drives to the basket while guarded by Charlotte Hornets guard KJ Simpson (25) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

Chicago Bulls guard Coby White (0) drives to the basket while guarded by Charlotte Hornets guard KJ Simpson (25) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Protests sweeping across Iran neared the two-week mark Saturday, with the country’s government acknowledging the ongoing demonstrations despite an intensifying crackdown and as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But the death toll in the protests has grown to at least 65 people killed and over 2,300 others detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Iranian state TV is reporting on security force casualties while portraying control over the nation.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signaled a coming clampdown, despite U.S. warnings.

“The United States supports the brave people of Iran,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote Saturday on the social platform X. The State Department separately warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”

Saturday marks the start of the work week in Iran, but many schools and universities reportedly held online classes, Iranian state TV reported.

State TV repeatedly played a driving, martial orchestral arrangement from the “Epic of Khorramshahr” by Iranian composer Majid Entezami, while showing pro-government demonstrations. The song, aired repeatedly during the 12-day war launched by Israel, honors Iran's 1982 liberation of the city of Khorramshahr during the Iran-Iraq war. It has been used in videos of protesting women cutting away their hair to protest the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini as well.

“Field reports indicate that peace prevailed in most cities of the country at night,” a state TV anchor reported. “After a number of armed terrorists attacked public places and set fire to people’s private property last night, there was no news of any gathering or chaos in Tehran and most provinces last night.”

That was directly contradicted by an online video verified by The Associated Press that showed demonstrations in northern Tehran's Saadat Abad area, with what appeared to be thousands on the street.

“Death to Khamenei!” a man chanted.

The semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and one of the few media outlets able to publish to the outside world, released surveillance camera footage of what it said came from demonstrations in Isfahan. In it, a protester appeared to fire a long gun, while others set fires and threw gasoline bombs at what appeared to be a government compound.

The Young Journalists' Club, associated with state TV, reported that protesters killed three members of the Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force in the city of Gachsaran. It also reported a security official was stabbed to death in Hamadan province, a police officer killed in the port city of Bandar Abbas and another in Gilan, as well as one person slain in Mashhad.

State television also aired footage of a funeral service attended by hundreds in Qom, a Shiite seminary city just south of Tehran.

Iran’s theocracy cut off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls on Thursday, though it allowed some state-owned and semiofficial media to publish. Qatar's state-funded Al Jazeera news network reported live from Iran, but they appeared to be the only major foreign outlet able to work.

Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests Thursday and Friday, asked demonstrators to take to the streets Saturday and Sunday with Iran's old lion-and-sun flag, used during the time of the shah.

Pahlavi's support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past — particularly after the 12-day war. Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it isn’t clear whether that’s support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country's economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran's theocracy.

In this frame grab from video taken by an individual not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows a fire as people protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from video taken by an individual not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows people during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

This frame grab from a video released Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, by Iranian state television shows a man holding a device to document burning vehicles during a night of mass protests in Zanjan, Iran. (Iranian state TV via AP)