Durant scores 30 as the Rockets beat the Trail Blazers 140-116 for 3rd straight victory

HOUSTON (AP) — Kevin Durant scored 30 points, Alperen Sengun added 25 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists and the Houston Rockets won their third straight with a 140-116 win over the Portland Trail Blazers in an NBA Cup game on Friday night.

Durant, who had 16 points in the first period, finished 12 of 19 from the field. Jabari Smith Jr. scored 22 points, Amen Thompson had 19 points and Reed Sheppard 13.

The Rockets have won eight of their last nine games and improved to 1-1 in NBA Cup play. Houston shot 50%, including 17 of 45 on 3-pointers. The Rockets forced the Trail Blazers into 20 turnovers and converted them into 30 points.

Tari Eason left with a bruised right hip after being bumped and falling to the floor. He went to the locker room with a trainer midway through the second quarter.

Deni Avdija had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Shaedon Sharpe added 19 points and eight rebounds, Toumani Camara scored 16 points and Jrue Holiday and Jerami Grant each had 13 for Portland, which fell to 1-1 in NBA Cup play. The Trailblazers shot 47% and were 13 of 36 from 3-point range.

Leading 58-57 with 2:44 left in the second, Houston ended the half on an 11-3 run and took a 69-60 lead into halftime on a tip-in by Josh Okogie. The Rockets opened the second half with an 8-0 run to increase the lead to 17 points on a 3-pointer by Okogie with 10:49 left in the period. Houston’s lead never dipped below 10 the rest of the way.

Trail Blazers: At Dallas Mavericks on Sunday in the finale of a five-game trip.

Rockets: Host the Orlando Magic on Sunday to finish a three-game homestand.

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Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28) defends against Portland Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe, left, during the first half of an NBA Cup basketball game in Houston, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Portland Trail Blazers center Robert Williams III, right, tries to keep the ball in play during the first half of an NBA Cup basketball game against the Houston Rockets in Houston, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Houston Rockets guard Josh Okogie, center, dunks during the second half of an NBA Cup basketball game against the Portland Trail Blazers in Houston, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant celebrates after a 3-pointer during the second half of an NBA Cup basketball game against the Portland Trail Blazers in Houston, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Houston Rockets guard Amen Thompson (1) passes against Portland Trail Blazers forward Toumani Camara (33) during the second half of an NBA Cup basketball game in Houston, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Iran fired missiles and drones at targets across the Gulf including oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and a ship off the coast of the Emirates, while Israeli and the United States struck targets across the Islamic Republic. Saudi Arabia and other states said they intercepted multiple drone attacks.

Six members of the Iranian women’s soccer team will remain in Australia, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Wednesday, while one of the squad members who was previously granted asylum changed her mind and planned to return to Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in social media posts there were no reports of Iran planting explosives in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil is shipped. The U.S. said it took out more than a dozen minelaying Iranian vessels Tuesday to help prevent any attempt to close the waterway.

Iran's vow not to allow any oil through the strategic strait has led to market volatility and fears of shortages, especially in Asia, which is dependent on oil shipped from the region.

Israel struck a building in the center of the Lebanese capital Beirut as part of its campaign against Hezbollah. The Lebanese group has been carrying out attacks against Israel in support of Iran.

Here is the latest:

A projectile hit a cargo ship Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, setting the vessel ablaze after the United States targeted Iranian minelaying vessels that could target the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, run by the British military, said the vessel had been hit just north of Oman in the strait.

It said the crew was evacuating the ship.

Iran did not immediately claim the attack though it has been targeting ships in and around the strait, disrupting a waterway that sees a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded pass through it.

The UKMTO earlier reported on another attack targeting a vessel off Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.

Qatar issued a warning to the public Wednesday morning of a possible Iranian attack.

An Associated Press journalist in Qatar heard explosions as air defenses intercepted incoming fire over Doha, the country’s capital.

Qatar says it won’t serve as a mediator for Iran as it remains under attack from Tehran.

Mohammed bin Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi, Qatar’s minister of state for foreign affairs, made the statement to the Qatari-funded satellite news network Al Jazeera in an interview aired Wednesday.

He noted both Qatar and Oman had been attacked even though they worked to “build bridges between Iran and the West.”

“We will not be able to fulfill that role under attack, and that’s something the Iranians need to understand,” al-Khulaifi said. "The regional countries are not an enemy of Iran, and the Iranians are not understanding that idea.”

Russia said its consulate in the Iranian city of Isfahan was damaged in airstrikes targeting the central Iranian city.

The state-run Tass news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying there were “no casualties or serious injuries” in the strike Sunday, which targeted the nearby governor’s office in the city.

“Windows were shattered in the office building and residential apartments, and several employees were thrown back by the blast wave. Fortunately, there were no casualties or serious injuries,” Zakharova said.

Videos circulating online and broadcast by local news channels from an apparent strike site in the densely populated Aicha Bakkar area of central Beirut show two floors of a multistory building engulfed in flames.

The strike came without warning. There were no immediate reports concerning who was targeted or the number and extent of casualties.

The structure that was hit is several buildings away from Dar al-Fatwa, the country’s highest Sunni Muslim religious authority.

The strike was in an area far from Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings earlier in the renewed conflict with Hezbollah.

Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said early Wednesday it destroyed five drones heading toward the kingdom’s vast Shaybah oil field in the Empty Quarter desert. It added that it intercepted and destroyed two drones in the Eastern Province.

Kuwait said it downed eight drones over the tiny, oil-rich nation.

Two more members of the Iranian women’s soccer team were granted asylum in Australia before their teammates departed the country, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Wednesday, but one of the women changed her mind and plant to return to Iran.

Six women from the Iranian squad will remain in Australia on humanitarian visas after accepting offers of asylum shortly before their scheduled return home, Burke said. The names and photographs of the team members initially granted asylum have been widely published, including by Burke, and it was not immediately clear which of the women reversed her decision.

The rest of the team’s departure from Sydney, Australia, happened late Tuesday during fraught and outraged protests at the delegation’s hotel and the airport. Iranian Australians sought to prevent the women from leaving the country, citing fears for their safety in Iran.

A projectile hit a container ship early Wednesday morning off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Strait of Hormuz, the British military said.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center issued the warning, saying the attack happened off Ras al-Khaimah, the UAE’s northernmost emirate on the strait.

The center said the “extent of the damage is currently unknown but under investigation by the crew.”

Ships have effectively halted movement through the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded passes.

A boy runs inside cement pipe turned into a bomb shelter as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missile strike in Michmoret, Israel, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A man passes in front of a destroyed building that housed a branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a non-bank financial institution run by Hezbollah, which was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Protesters wave Iranian flags and hold a portrait of the late Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to support his selection as the new Iran's Supreme Leader in Baghdad, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A displaced woman holds a child as another stands beside her between rows of tents at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, which has been turned into a shelter for people displaced by Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon and Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)