OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 28 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder matched the best 25-game start to an NBA season by dominating the Phoenix Suns 138-89 in an NBA Cup quarterfinal on Wednesday.
The Thunder's 24-1 mark ties the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, who won their first 24 games before finally losing.
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Phoenix Suns center Mark Williams (15) tries to get to a rebound before Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren (7) during the first half of an NBA Cup basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)
Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen (8) loses control of the ball during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Phoenix Suns guard Collin Gillespie, left, shoots over Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander during the first half of an NBA Cup basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)
Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen, left, shoots over Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, rifght, during the first half of an NBA Cup basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)
Chet Holmgren added 24 points and eight rebounds for the Thunder, who set a franchise record with their 16th straight win. They advanced to the semifinals on Saturday against the Los Angeles Lakers or San Antonio.
It seemed this could be a tough one for the Thunder. Oklahoma City’s 123-119 win over the Suns in NBA Cup group play on Nov. 28 was its closest game during its win streak.
But Phoenix star Devin Booker missed his third straight game with a strained right groin. He scored 21 points in the previous matchup and said in the postgame that the “secret is out” about the Thunder’s league-leading defense.
It appears the Suns have more to learn. They shot 39.3% from the field and scored a season-low point total. Dillon Brooks led the Suns with 16 points, but he made just 4 of 16 shots. It was the fewest points Oklahoma City has allowed this season.
Jalen Williams hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to give the Thunder a 74-48 lead. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 17 points in the first half despite just eight shot attempts.
It was Gilgeous-Alexander's 96th straight game with at least 20 points. He reached the total on a breakaway dunk that put the Thunder up 84-50 with 9:15 left in the third quarter.
Phoenix guard Grayson Allen was ejected after he shoved Holmgren and knocked him to the floor. The Thunder led 94-58 with 5:18 left in the third quarter when the two collided while Holmgren appeared to be setting a screen. Allen extended both arms, knocking Holmgren to the floor, and was called for a Flagrant 2.
Suns: Host the Golden State Warriors next Thursday.
Thunder: Advanced to the semifinal on Saturday against the Los Angeles Lakers or San Antonio.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Phoenix Suns center Mark Williams (15) tries to get to a rebound before Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren (7) during the first half of an NBA Cup basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)
Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen (8) loses control of the ball during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Phoenix Suns guard Collin Gillespie, left, shoots over Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander during the first half of an NBA Cup basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)
Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen, left, shoots over Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, rifght, during the first half of an NBA Cup basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)
BALTIMORE (AP) — A federal judge ordered Friday that U.S. immigration officials could not detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia, hours after his release from immigration detention.
Abrego Garcia was appearing Friday morning for a scheduled appointment at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office, some 14 hours after he was released from detention on a judge’s orders. His lawyers asked the judge to block authorities from detaining him again.
Officials cannot re-detain him until the court conducts a hearing on the motion for the temporary restraining order, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland said.
Abrego Garcia became a flashpoint of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown earlier this year when he was wrongly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. He was last taken into custody in August during a similar check-in.
Abrego Garcia on Friday stopped at a news conference outside the building, escorted by a group of supporters chanting “We are all Kilmar!”
“I stand before you a free man and I want you to remember me this way, with my head held up high,” Abrego Garcia said through a translator. “I come here today with so much hope and I thank God who has been with me since the start with my family.”
He urged people to keep fighting.
“I stand here today with my head held high and I will continue to fight and stand firm against all of the injustices this government has done upon me,” Abrego Garcia said. “Regardless of this administration, I believe this is a country of laws and I believe that this injustice will come to an end.”
After Abrego Garcia spoke, he went through security at the field office, escorted by supporters.
The agency freed him just before 5 p.m. on Thursday in response to a ruling from Xinis, who wrote federal authorities detained him after his return to the United States without any legal basis.
Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen with an American wife and child who has lived in Maryland for years. He immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager to join his brother, who had become a U.S. citizen. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him protection from being deported back to his home country, where he faces danger from a gang that targeted his family.
While he was allowed to live and work in the U.S. under ICE supervision, he was not given residency status. Earlier this year, he was mistakenly deported and held in a notoriously brutal Salvadoran prison despite having no criminal record.
Facing mounting public pressure and a court order, Trump’s Republican administration brought him back to the U.S. in June, but only after issuing an arrest warrant on human smuggling charges in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and asked a federal judge there to dismiss them.
The 2019 settlement found he had a “well founded fear” of danger in El Salvador if he was deported there. So instead ICE has been seeking to deport him to a series of African countries. Abrego Garcia has sued, claiming the Trump administration is illegally using the removal process to punish him for the public embarrassment caused by his deportation.
In her order releasing Abrego Garcia, Xinis wrote that federal authorities “did not just stonewall” the court, “They affirmatively misled the tribunal.” Xinis also rejected the government’s argument that she lacked jurisdiction to intervene on a final removal order for Abrego Garcia, because she found no final order had been filed.
ICE freed Abrego Garcia from Moshannon Valley Processing Center, about 115 miles (185 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh, on Thursday just before the deadline Xinis gave the government to provide an update on Abrego Garcia's release.
He returned home to Maryland a few hours later.
Check-ins are how ICE keeps track of some people who are released by the government to pursue asylum or other immigration cases as they make their way through a backlogged court system. The appointments were once routine but many people have been detained at their check-ins since the start of President Donald Trump's second term.
Abrego Garcia's attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said he’s prepared to defend his client against further deportation efforts.
“The government still has plenty of tools in their toolbox, plenty of tricks up their sleeve,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said, adding he fully expects the government to again take steps to deport his client. “We’re going to be there to fight to make sure there is a fair trial.”
The Department of Homeland Security sharply criticized Xinis' order and vowed to appeal, calling the ruling “naked judicial activism” by a judge appointed during the Obama administration.
“This order lacks any valid legal basis, and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s assistant secretary.
Sandoval-Moshenberg said the judge made it clear that the government can’t detain someone indefinitely without legal authority and that his client “has endured more than anyone should ever have to.”
Abrego Garcia has also applied for asylum in the U.S. in immigration court.
Abrego Garcia was hit with human smuggling and conspiracy to commit human smuggling charges when the U.S. government brought him back from El Salvador. Prosecutors alleged he accepted money to transport within the United States people who were in the country illegally.
The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.
A Department of Homeland Security agent testified at an earlier hearing that he did not begin investigating the traffic stop until after the U.S. Supreme Court said in April that the Trump administration must work to bring back Abrego Garcia.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia waits to enter the building for a mandatory check at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, after he was released from detention on Thursday under a judge's order. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks at a rally before a mandatory check at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, after he was released from detention on Thursday under a judge's order. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia listens with is brother Cesar Abrego Garcia during a rally ahead of a mandatory check at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, after he was released from detention on Thursday under a judge's order. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks during a rally ahead of a mandatory check at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, after he was released from detention on Thursday under a judge's order. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, center, and his brother Cesar Abrego Garcia, left, arrive at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
Kilmar Abrego García arrives to his home in Beltsville, Md., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, after being released from ICE custody. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Kilmar Abrego García arrives to his home in Beltsville, Md., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, after being released from ICE custody. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Kilmar Abrego García arrives to his home in Beltsville, Md., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, after being released from ICE custody. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
