Sengun and Durant score 33 apiece as Rockets beat the Grizzlies 108-99

HOUSTON (AP) — Alperen Sengun and Kevin Durant each scored 33 points as the Houston Rockets broke open a close game in the fourth quarter and beat the Memphis Grizzlies 108-99 on Monday night.

The Rockets trailed by a point at the start of the fourth before going on a 21-9 run in the first seven minutes of the period to seize control and win for the fifth time in six games.

Tari Eason scored 11 of his 17 points in the first half and Amen Thompson finished with 14 assists and eight points. Reed Sheppard, who earlier Monday was named to the Rising Stars game for the NBA's All-Star weekend, finished with four points on 2-for-11 shooting, including 0 for 7 from 3-point distance.

Sengun had an impressing shooting night for the Rockets, going 7 for 7 from the field in the first half and 15 for 17 overall. He also contributed nine rebounds and six assists.

Jaren Jackson Jr. and Santi Aldama scored 17 points apiece for the Grizzlies, who lost their third straight, for the fourth time in five games and for the 10 time in 13 games. GG Jackson added 14 points, Jaylen Wells had 12 and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 11. Cam Spencer, who along with Wells and Cedric Coward, was named to the Rising Stars game, finished with 14 assists and five points.

Both teams struggled with their shooting in the first half. The Grizzlies shot 37% (21 for 57) from the field, including 4 for 19 (21%) from 3-point distance, yet led 54-51 after two quarters. The Rockets shot just a bit better, going 20 for 51 (39%) from the field and 5 for 20 (20%) from distance.

Trailing 77-6 at the start of the fourth quarter, Houston went on a 12-2 run to take control and extended its lead in the period. The Grizzlies trimmed their deficit down the stretch, but were never able to catch up.

Memphis was without two-time All-Star Ja Morant, who is out for at least the next three weeks due to a sprained ligament in his left elbow. He was injured Wednesday during the Grizzlies’ 124-122 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

The Grizzlies last played Friday, losing to New Orleans. Their game against Denver scheduled for Sunday was postponed due to extreme weather in the Memphis area.

Grizzlies: Host the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday.

Rockets: Host the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.

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

Houston Rockets center Clint Capela, second from left, tries to get past Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. (8), guard John Konchar (46) and guard Vince Williams Jr. (5) who try to strip the ball away from him during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Memphis Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama (7) dunks the ball over Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Memphis Grizzlies forward Cedric Coward reacts as he loses the ball after slipping on the court in front of the Houston Rockets bench during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Memphis Grizzlies forward Cedric Coward, center, has his shot attempt blocked by Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. (10) as center Alperen Sengun (28) looks on during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant, right, looks to drive around Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaylen Wells, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests killed at least 6,126 people while many others still are feared dead, activists said Tuesday, as a U.S. aircraft carrier group arrived in the Mideast to lead any American military response to the crisis.

The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and guided missile destroyers accompanying it provide the U.S. the ability to strike Iran, particularly as Gulf Arab states have signaled they want to stay out of any attack despite hosting American military personnel.

Two Iranian-backed militias in the Mideast have signaled their willingness to launch new attacks, likely trying to back Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened military action over the killing of peaceful protesters or Tehran launching mass executions in the wake of the demonstrations.

Iran has repeatedly threatened to drag the entire Mideast into a war, though its air defenses and military are still reeling after the June war launched by Israel against the country.

Both the Houthis and Kataib Hezbollah sat out from Israel’s 12-day war on Iran that saw the United States bomb Iranian nuclear sites. The hesitancy to get involved shows the disarray still affecting Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” after facing attacks from Israel during its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The new figures Tuesday came from the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in multiple rounds of unrest in Iran. The group verifies each death with a network of activists on the ground in Iran.

It identified the dead as including at least 5,777 protesters, 214 government-affiliated forces, 86 children and 49 civilians who weren't demonstrating. The crackdown has seen over 41,800 arrests, it added.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll given authorities cutting off the internet and disrupting calls into the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s government has put the death toll at a far lower 3,117, saying 2,427 were civilians and security forces, and labeled the rest “terrorists.” In the past, Iran’s theocracy has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.

That death toll exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest there in decades, and recalls the chaos surrounding Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The protests in Iran began on Dec. 28, sparked by the fall of the Iranian currency, the rial, and quickly spread across the country. They were met by a violent crackdown by Iran’s theocracy, the scale of which is only starting to become clear as the country has faced more than two weeks of internet blackout — the most comprehensive in its history.

Iran’s U.N. ambassador told a U.N. Security Council meeting late Monday that Trump’s repeated threats to use military force against the country “are neither ambiguous nor misinterpreted.” Amir Saeid Iravani also repeated allegations that the U.S. leader incited violence by “armed terrorist groups” supported by the United States and Israel, but gave no evidence to support his claims.

Iranian state media has tried to accuse forces abroad for the protests as the theocracy remains broadly unable to address the country's ailing economy, which is still squeezed by international sanctions, particularly over its nuclear program.

Iran projected its power across the Mideast through the “Axis of Resistance,” a network of proxy militant groups in Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq, and other places. It was also seen as a defensive buffer, intended to keep conflict away from Iranian borders. But it has collapsed after Israel targeted Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon and others during the Gaza war. Meanwhile, rebels in 2024 overthrew Syria’s Bashar Assad after a yearslong, bloody war in which Iran backed his rule.

Yemen's Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, have repeatedly warned they could resume fire if needed on shipping in the Red Sea, releasing old footage of a previous attack Monday. Ahmad “Abu Hussein” al-Hamidawi, the leader of Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah militia, warned "the enemies that the war on the (Islamic) Republic will not be a picnic; rather, you will taste the bitterest forms of death, and nothing will remain of you in our region.”

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, one of Iran’s staunchest allies, refused to say how it planned to react in the case of a possible attack.

“During the past two months, several parties have asked me a clear and frank question: If Israel and America go to war against Iran, will Hezbollah intervene or not?” Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Kassem said in a video address.

He said the group is preparing for “possible aggression and is determined to defend” against it. But as to how it would act, he said, “these details will be determined by the battle and we will determine them according to the interests that are present.”

Associated Press writers Edith Lederer at the United Nations and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

A Hezbollah supporter waves an Iranian flag during a rally to show their solidarity with the Iranian government, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

This photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows sailors preparing a Boeing EA-18G Growler on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Indian Ocean on Jan. 21, 2026. (Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Daniel Kimmelman/U.S. Navy via AP)

Vehicles drive past portrait of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, left, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People walk in front a billboard with graphic showing a U.S aircraft carrier with damaged fighter jets on its deck, and sign reading in Farsi and English: "If you sow the wind, you'll reap whirlwind," at the Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) square, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)