NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Zion Williamson scored 24 points, including 10 straight in a decisive two-minute span of the fourth quarter, to power the New Orleans Pelicans to a 119-113 victory over the Dallas Mavericks, extending the Pelicans’ season-long winning streak to five games.
The Pelicans, who started the season 3-22, have posted their longest winning streak since 2022.
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New Orleans Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears (0) shoots a layup against Dallas Mavericks forward P.J. Washington (25) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Peter Forest)
Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) tries to make a move against New Orleans Pelicans center Derik Queen (22) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Peter Forest)
New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III (25) and Dallas Mavericks forward Naji Marshall (13) both fight for the ball in the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Peter Forest)
New Orleans Pelicans center Derik Queen (22) drives past Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) for a layup in the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Peter Forest)
New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) shoots a layup against Dallas Mavericks forward Daniel Gafford, left, in the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Peter Forest)
New Orleans erased an 87-79 deficit after three quarters with a 38-19 run in the first 10:24 of the final quarter.
With New Orleans leading 105-103, Williamson scored on five of the Pelican’s next six possessions, four of them on strong drives to the basket from the right side, to put the Pelicans up 117-106 with 1:37 left.
The Mavericks were led by Anthony Davis’ season-high 35 points. They scored seven straight points to cut the New Orleans lead to 117-113 with 18.1 seconds left, but Trey Murphy III iced the game for the Pelicans with two free throws with 10.4 seconds remaining.
Derik Queen had 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Pelicans, and Saddiq Bey added 19 points and seven rebounds.
Davis and Klay Thompson were unstoppable in the first half as the Mavericks overcame an early 11-point deficit to take a 63-57 halftime lead.
Davis scored 22 points in the first half — his highest one-half output of the season — and Thompson came off the bench to score 20.
Davis went 10 for 16 in the first half, as he easily got the ball near the rim against the smaller Pelicans’ interior defense. He added an unguarded 3-pointer for the Mavericks’ final bucket of the second quarter. He had a double-double by halftime with 10 rebounds.
Thompson, a career 41% shooter from long range, entered the game shooting just 36% from 3, but he nailed five of his first nine 3-pointers.
Mavericks: Host Denver on Tuesday.
Pelicans: Visit Cleveland on Tuesday.
AP NBA: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NBA
New Orleans Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears (0) shoots a layup against Dallas Mavericks forward P.J. Washington (25) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Peter Forest)
Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) tries to make a move against New Orleans Pelicans center Derik Queen (22) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Peter Forest)
New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III (25) and Dallas Mavericks forward Naji Marshall (13) both fight for the ball in the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Peter Forest)
New Orleans Pelicans center Derik Queen (22) drives past Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) for a layup in the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Peter Forest)
New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) shoots a layup against Dallas Mavericks forward Daniel Gafford, left, in the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Peter Forest)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday delivered a new warning to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as the U.S. Coast Guard steps up efforts to interdict oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea as part of the Republican administration's escalating pressure campaign on the government in Caracas.
Trump was surrounded by his top national security aides, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as he suggested that he remains ready to further escalate his four-month pressure campaign on the Maduro government, which began with the stated purpose of stemming the flow of illegal drugs from the South American nation but has developed into something more amorphous.
“If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’ll ever be able to play tough,” Trump said of Maduro as he took a break from his Florida holiday vacation to announce plans for the Navy to build a new, large warship.
Trump levied his latest threat as the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday continued for a second day to chase a sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration describes as part of a “dark fleet” Venezuela is using to evade U.S. sanctions. The tanker, according to the White House, is flying under a false flag and is under a U.S. judicial seizure order.
“It’s moving along and we’ll end up getting it,” Trump said.
It is the third tanker pursued by the Coast Guard, which on Saturday seized a Panama-flagged vessel called Centuries that U.S. officials said was part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet.
The Coast Guard, with assistance from the Navy, seized a sanctioned tanker called Skipper on Dec. 10, also part of the shadow fleet of tankers that the U.S. says operates on the fringes of the law to move sanctioned cargo. That ship was registered in Panama.
Trump, after that first seizure, said the U.S. would carry out a “blockade” of Venezuela. Trump has repeatedly said that Maduro's days in power are numbered.
Last week, Trump demanded that Venezuela return assets that it seized from U.S. oil companies years ago, justifying anew his announcement of a blockade against sanctioned oil tankers traveling to or from the South American country.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Coast Guard, said in a Monday appearance on “Fox & Friends” that the targeting of tankers is intended to send “a message around the world that the illegal activity that Maduro is participating in cannot stand, he needs to be gone, and that we will stand up for our people.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Ministry started evacuating the families of diplomats from Venezuela, according to a European intelligence official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.
The official told The Associated Press the evacuations include women and children and began on Friday, adding that Russian Foreign Ministry officials are assessing the situation in Venezuela in “very grim tones.” The ministry said in an X posting that it was not evacuating the embassy but did not address queries about whether it was evacuating the families of diplomats.
Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yván Gil on Monday said he spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, who he said expressed Russia’s support for Venezuela against Trump’s declared blockade of sanctioned oil tankers.
“We reviewed the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law that have been committed in the Caribbean: attacks against vessels and extrajudicial executions, and the unlawful acts of piracy carried out by the United States government,” Gil said in a statement.
While U.S. forces targeted the vessels in international waters over the weekend, a tanker that's considered part of the shadow fleet was spotted moving between Venezuelan refineries, including one about three hours west of the capital, Caracas.
The tanker remained at the refinery in El Palito through Sunday, when families went to the town’s beach to relax with children now on break from school.
Music played on loudspeakers as people swam and surfed with the tanker in the background. Families and groups of teenagers enjoyed themselves, but Manuel Salazar, who has parked cars at the beach for more than three decades, noticed differences from years past, when the country’s oil-dependent economy was in better shape and the energy industry produced at least double the current 1 million barrels per day.
“Up to nine or 10 tankers would wait out there in the bay. One would leave, another would come in,” Salazar, 68, said. “Now, look, one.”
The tanker in El Palito has been identified by Transparencia Venezuela, an independent watchdog promoting government accountability, to be part of the shadow fleet.
Area residents on Sunday recalled when tankers would sound their horns at midnight New Year’s Eve, while some would even send up fireworks to celebrate the holiday.
“Before, during vacations, they’d have barbecues; now all you see is bread with bologna,” Salazar said of Venezuelan families spending the holiday at the beach next to the refinery. “Things are expensive. Food prices keep going up and up every day.”
Venezuela’s ruling party-controlled National Assembly on Monday gave initial approval to a measure that would criminalize a broad range of activities that could be linked to the seizure of oil tankers.
Lawmaker Giuseppe Alessandrello, who introduced the bill, said people could be fined and imprisoned for up to 20 years for promoting, requesting, supporting, financing or participating in “acts of piracy, blockades or other international illegal acts against” commercial entities operating with the South American country.
The Defense Department, under Trump's orders, continues its campaign of attacks on smaller vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that it alleges are carrying drugs to the United States and beyond.
At least 105 people have been killed in 29 known strikes since early September. The strikes have faced scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and human rights activists, who say the administration has offered scant evidence that its targets are indeed drug smugglers and that the fatal strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.
Garcia Cano reported from El Palito, Venezuela, and Burrows reported from London.
President Donald Trump departs after speaking at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks, with from left, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan,at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump arrives to speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The access ramp to the entrance of the Russian Embassy is under construction in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Children play at the beach near El Palito port in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
The El Palito refinery rises above a beach in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Evana, an oil tanker, is docked at El Palito port in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
