Donovan Mitchell scores 28 points as Cavaliers beat Timberwolves 146-134

CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 28 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers took control in the second half for a 146-134 victory over Minnesota on Saturday that snapped the Timberwolves' four-game winning streak.

Mitchell also had four 3-pointers as the Cavaliers had five players score at least 20 points for the second time in franchise history. Evan Mobley had 24 points, Jaylon Tyson scored 23 off the bench and Darius Garland added 22.

Sam Merrill had 20 points and set a franchise record with at least five 3-pointers in four straight games.

The last time the Cavaliers had five players with at least 20 points was on March 14, 1972, against the Baltimore Bullets, according to Sportradar.

The 146 points are the fourth most the Cavaliers have scored in a regulation game. They scored 148 in a 33-point victory over Washington on Nov. 7.

Cleveland — which has won five of seven — was 55 of 92 from the field, and shot a season-best 59.2%, It was also 15 of 31 from beyond the arc.

Anthony Edwards and Naz Reid scored 25 points apiece for Minnesota, which defeated Cleveland 131-122 on Thursday night. Julius Randle had 20 points.

Despite the loss, the Timberwolves shot a season-best 57.3% from the field, going 51 of 89.

Cleveland trailed 65-63 at halftime before going on a 12-0 run during a 2:18 span midway through the third quarter to take the lead. Merrill had a pair of 3-pointers and Mobley provided two dunks. Jarrett Allen's floating jumper made it 82-73 with 6:00 remaining.

Allen had 16 points, marking the 11th time this season all five Cleveland starters scored in double figures.

There were 10 lead changes and one tie during the first quarter before Minnesota jumped out to a 47-35 advantage.

Cleveland rallied late in the first half before it made its charge in the second half.

Timberwolves: Host San Antonio on Sunday.

Cavaliers: Host Utah on Monday.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Bones Hyland (8) drives around Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland, right, in the half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Bones Hyland, left, drives past Cleveland Cavaliers forward De'andre Hunter, right, in the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle (30) goes to the basket in front of Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen, right, in the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) dunks in front of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Sam Merrill, right, in the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert, left, fouls Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen, right, in the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Protests sweeping across Iran reached the two-week mark early Sunday, 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 72 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. Tehran escalated its threats Saturday, with the Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death-penalty charge. The statement carried by Iranian state television said even those who “helped rioters” would face the charge.

“Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country,” the statement read. “Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence.”

U.S. President Donald Trump offered support for the protesters, saying on social media that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”

The State Department separately warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”

Saturday marked the start of the work week in Iran, but many schools and universities reportedly held online classes, Iranian state TV reported. Internal Iranian government websites are believed to be functioning.

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.

It also repeatedly aired video of purported protesters shooting at security forces with firearms.

“Field reports indicate that peace prevailed in most cities of the country at night,” a state TV anchor reported Saturday morning. “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.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, also close to the Guard, claimed authorities detained nearly 200 people belonging to what it described as “operational terrorist teams.” It alleged those arrested had weapons including firearms, grenades and gasoline bombs.

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 in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets Saturday and Sunday. He urged protesters to carry Iran's old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols used during the time of the shah to “claim public spaces as your own.”

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.

Online video purported to show protests ongoing Saturday night as well.

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.

Airlines have canceled some flights into Iran over the demonstrations. Austrian Airlines said Saturday it had decided to suspend its flights to Iran “as a precautionary measure” through Monday. Turkish Airlines earlier announced the cancellation of 17 flights to three cities in Iran.

Meanwhile, concern is growing that the internet shutdown will allow Iran's security forces to go on a bloody crackdown, as they have in other rounds of demonstrations. Ali Rahmani, the son of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi who is imprisoned in Iran, noted that security forces killed hundreds in a 2019 protest “so we can only fear the worst.”

“They are fighting, and losing their lives, against a dictatorial regime,” Rahmani said.

Associated Press writers Oleg Cetinic in Paris and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.

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 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)