Magic clinch 7th spot in Eastern Conference with win over Celtics

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Franz Wagner scored 23 points, Cole Anthony came off the bench with 18 points and the Orlando Magic beat the Boston Celtics 96-76 on Wednesday night to clinch seventh place in the Eastern Conference and the top spot in the play-in tournament.

Baylor Scheierman and Payton Pritchard scored 15 points each to lead the Celtics, who did not use their top six players and made 7 of 40 3-point shots.

Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday and Al Horford did not play for the Celtics.

Paolo Banchero had 15 points and six assists for the Magic. It was Wagner’s 12th straight game of scoring 20 or more points.

76ERS 122, WIZARDS 103

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jeff Dowtin Jr. scored a career-high 30 points and Philadelphia snapped a 12-game losing streak with a victory over Washington.

Lonnie Walker IV had 24 points for the 76ers, who won despite a lengthy list of injured players that included Joel Embiid, Paul George, Eric Gordon, Kyle Lowry, Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain and Andre Drummond.

Dowtin, a Washington, D.C.-area native on a two-way contract for Philadelphia, played for the 76ers for the first time this month. He went 11 of 15 from the field and made four 3-pointers, surpassing his previous career high of 24 points from March 14 against Indiana.

Tristan Vukcevic led Washington with a career-high 24 points. The Wizards were without Jordan Poole, Khris Middleton, Corey Kispert, Bilal Coulibaly and Malcolm Brogdon. Marcus Smart was not listed on the injury report, but did not play.

RAPTORS 126, HORNETS 96

TORONTO (AP) — Jonathan Mogbo had 17 points, a career-high 11 assists and 10 rebounds for the first triple-double by a rookie in the NBA this season, helping Toronto beat short-handed Charlotte.

Jared Rhoden scored 23 points in the Raptors’ ninth straight home victory over the Hornets. Scottie Barnes added 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Raptors finished 18-23 at home.

AJ Lawson scored 14 points and the Raptors matched their biggest margin of victory this season. Toronto also had a 30-point win at Brooklyn on March 26.

Nick Smith Jr. had 28 points and 10 rebounds and Jusuf Nurkic added 26 points for Charlotte. The Hornets have lost five straight and seven in a row in the road.

LAKERS 112, MAVERICKS 97

DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic scored 45 points in his first game in Dallas since being traded to Los Angeles, helping the Lakers wrap up a playoff spot with a victory over the Mavericks.

Doncic’s emotional return came two months after a seismic trade out of nowhere that sent the five-time All-Star to Los Angeles. The 26-year-old star from Slovenia spent his first 5 1/2 seasons with the Mavericks, and still had two seasons left on his contract.

The 45 points matched Doncic’s season high — he did that once for Dallas and one other time for the Lakers. He also had eight rebounds, six assists and four steals.

LeBron James had 13 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, when the Lakers fell behind before a strong finish.

Anthony Davis, who went from the Lakers to Dallas in the Doncic heal, had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Naji Marshall led the Mavs with 23 points and eight assists.

BULLS 119, HEAT 111

CHICAGO (AP) — Josh Giddey dominated with 28 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists and Chicago beat Miami in a game with heavy seeding implications.

Giddey extended a career high with his seventh triple-double as the ninth-place Bulls (37-43) moved a game ahead of Miami in the Eastern Conference. They also pulled within a half-game of Atlanta for the eighth seed. The ninth-place team gets a home game against the 10th seed in the play-in tournament. The winner then visits the loser of the game between the seventh and eighth seeds.

Kevin Huerter scored 22. Nikola Vucevic added 20 points and 11 rebounds. Coby White scored 18 and Matas Buzelis finished with 17 points, helping Chicago win for the eighth time in 11 games. They also completed a three-game season sweep of the Heat.

Miami had won seven of 10 after dropping 10 in a row.

Tyler Herro scored 30. Bam Adebayo had 18 points and Davion Mitchell scored 17.

JAZZ 133, TRAIL BLAZERS 126

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Kyle Filipowski scored 30 points including a dunk that sent the game into overtime and grabbed 18 rebounds as Utah snapped a nine-game losing streak with a win over Portland.

Brice Sensabaugh added 22 points and Keyonte George had 18, including eight in overtime, for the Jazz.

Shaedon Sharpe had 37 to lead Portland, but missed three critical free throws in the final minute of regulation.

Rayan Rupert added 19 for the Blazers.

SPURS 114, WARRIORS 111

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Harrison Barnes made a 3-pointer at the buzzer after committing a foul moments earlier that could have cost his team, and San Antonio stunned Golden State.

Draymond Green made two free throws with 3.1 seconds left to make it 111-all after Barnes fouled him, then the veteran guard let it fly over Jimmy Butler and was immediately swarmed by his teammates when the horn sounded.

Keldon Johnson made a go-ahead layup with 11 seconds left after tying the game with 32 seconds remaining and finished with 21 points.

Butler scored 13 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and converted 16 of 17 free throws and Stephen Curry scored 30 with five 3-pointers and grabbed eight rebounds, but this loss could jeopardize Golden State securing a top-six playoff seed and avoiding the play-in tournament.

Stephon Castle also had 21 for San Antonio.

Green contributed 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists but the Warriors lost a critical game at home for a second straight time.

THUNDER 125, SUNS 112

PHOENIX (AP) — Jalen Williams scored 33 points, Chet Holmgren added 22 and short-handed Oklahoma City beat Phoenix, eliminating the Suns from the playoff race.

Phoenix will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2020 despite having a roster that included the high-priced All-Star trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.

The Thunder have already wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and were without several key players on Wednesday, including All-Star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, defensive star Luguentz Dort and center Isaiah Hartenstein.

That didn’t stop them from topping the Suns, who have lost eight straight.

NUGGETS 124, KINGS 116

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Nikola Jokic had his 32nd triple-double of the season with 20 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists and Denver beat Sacramento in the Nuggets’ first game since head coach Michael Malone was fired.

Christian Braun scored 25 points and Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. each had 21 points to help Denver end a four-game losing streak and complete a season series sweep of Sacramento.

With two regular-season games remaining, the Nuggets (48-32) are tied with the Clippers for the No. 4 playoff seed in the Western Conference.

CLIPPERS 134, ROCKETS 117

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — James Harden had 35 points and 10 assists and streaking Los Angeles beat playoff-bound Houston for their sixth straight win.

The Rockets had already locked up the No. 2 seed in the West and will be making their first playoff appearance since the 2020 bubble in Florida. They rested most of their starting lineup, including Dillon Brooks and Alperen Sengun.

Ivica Zubac had 20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for the Clippers, his first career triple-double and the third by a center for the team. Kawhi Leonard returned with 22 points and 10 rebounds after sitting out Tuesday to rest his surgically repaired right knee. Nicolas Batum added 15 points, including the Clippers’ first 12 of the second quarter, before leaving with a sore right groin.

Reed Sheppard led six Rockets in double figures with 20 points.

Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) dunks the ball against the Boston Celtics during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Kevin Kolczynski)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran, insisted “the situation has come under total control” in fiery remarks that blamed Israel and the U.S. for the violence, without offering evidence.

“That’s why the demonstrations turned violent and bloody to give an excuse to the American president to intervene,” Araghchi said, in comments carried by the Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network. Al Jazeera has been allowed to report from inside the country live despite the internet being shut off.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

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.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)