Alperen Sengun scores 39 to help Rockets overcome Kevin Durant's absence and beat Pacers 118-114

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Alperen Sengun matched his season high with 39 points, and Jabari Smith Jr. added 19 to help the short-handed Houston Rockets overcome the absence of All-Star forward Kevin Durant to beat the Indiana Pacers 118-114 on Monday.

Durant sat out, coach Ime Udoka said, after spraining his left ankle when he stepped on a fan's foot. The Rockets already were missing center Steven Adams, who is expected to miss the rest of this season following surgery on his injured left ankle, so Sengun did the heavy lifting.

He made 13 of 25 from the field and 13 of 18 from the free-throw line including 8 of 12 during the fourth quarter and grabbed 16 rebounds. Houston won its third straight, got its fifth victory in six games and captured its third straight on the road.

All-Star forward Pascal Siakam finished with 27 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 25 to lead the Pacers, who charged back from a 12-point deficit in the third quarter to take the lead. But they didn't have quite enough to extend their winning streak to a season-best three straight.

Initially, the healthier Pacers took advantage of Houston's missing pieces.

They controlled most of the first half before allowing Houston to charge back with a 17-4 spurt late. And when replay review waved off what appeared to be Siakam's buzzer-beating 3-pointer, Indiana was staring at a 63-56 halftime deficit.

Houston continued pulling away early in the second half, using a 12-5 run to build a 75-63 lead. Indiana answered with nine straight points then retook the lead, 81-79, lead on a nifty pass from Jarace Walker to Siakam on a fast break with 2:27 left in the third quarter.

It remained essentially a one or two possession game until Sengun's free throws fueled Houston's late 12-2 run to make it 109-101 with 4:59 to go.

Rockets: Head home to host Boston on Wednesday night.

Pacers: Welcome Utah to Indianapolis on Tuesday night.

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

Indiana Pacers guard/forward Aaron Nesmith (23) shoots over Houston Rockets forward Jae'sean Tate (8) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam (43) drives on Houston Rockets forward Tari Eason (17) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indiana Pacers guard/forward Aaron Nesmith (23) drives on Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. (10) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indiana Pacers guard Johnny Furphy (12) blocks the shot of Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun (28) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told lawmakers in a letter Monday that she attended an FBI search of the elections hub in Fulton County, Georgia, last week because President Donald Trump asked for her to be there.

She also acknowledged that she “facilitated” what she described as a brief phone call between Trump and FBI agents who carried out the search but insisted that neither she nor the president had issued any directives.

The letter to top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees marked Gabbard's first detailed explanation for her unusual presence at an FBI search during which agents armed with a warrant seized hundreds of boxes containing ballots and other documents related to the 2020 election in Georgia’s most populous county.

Fulton County, which votes overwhelmingly Democratic, has been a frequent target of the president's ire. He has long insisted without evidence that widespread voter fraud in the county cost him victory in Georgia in his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Gabbard's arrival in Georgia raised immediate questions among Democratic officials because the FBI search of the election center was a law enforcement, not intelligence, activity and because the position of national intelligence director is typically focused on foreign threats rather than domestic concerns.

In her letter, Gabbard said her presence was specifically requested by Trump and she accompanied senior FBI officials “under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security.”

Gabbard has been central to Trump administration efforts to cast doubt on intelligence community conclusions of Russian interference on Trump’s behalf during his successful 2016 campaign, and her presence in Georgia has been feared by Democrats as laying the groundwork for the federal government to assert that the 2020 race he lost was somehow tainted by foreign meddling or to cast doubt on the integrity of future elections.

Gabbard in her letter suggested that election systems are at risk of foreign interference, citing what she said was intelligence showing that electronic voting systems “have been vulnerable to exploitation” that could result in the manipulation of votes.

She said that in order to “preserve the integrity of our elections, we must understand whether there has been foreign or other malign interference in our elections, and whether vulnerabilities exist in our election infrastructure that could be exploited in future elections.” She did not explain why Fulton County was singled out for scrutiny, saying she had not seen the warrant that investigators submitted to a judge for approval.

Audits, state officials, courts and Trump’s own former attorney general have rejected the idea that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election that could have altered the outcome. The 2024 election that Trump won was also seen as relatively trouble-free at the polls.

Gabbard also appeared to confirm a report earlier Monday from The New York Times that she had helped arrange a call between Trump and FBI agents. It is rare for a president to communicate directly with rank-and-file FBI personnel about specific investigations.

“While visiting the FBI Field Office in Atlanta, I thanked the FBI agents for their professionalism and great work, and facilitated a brief phone call for the President to thank the agents personally for their work. He did not ask any questions, nor did he or I issue any directives,” she wrote.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, left, and FBI Deputy Director Andrew Bailey, enter a command vehicle as the FBI takes Fulton County 2020 Election ballots, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)