Jokic has 30 points and 12 rebounds in the Nuggets' 103-84 win over the Celtics

DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic had 30 points and 12 rebounds on a rough shooting night to help the Denver Nuggets beat the Boston Celtics 103-84 on Wednesday.

Denver played most of the game without guard Jamal Murray. He left after logging 7:51 due to an illness and did not return.

Tim Hardaway Jr. added 14 points as the Nuggets bounced back from a 1-2 trip out of the All-Star break, which included a loss at Golden State on Sunday. They kept pace with Houston in the tight Western Conference standings. Denver is percentage points behind the Rockets for third place.

Jaylen Brown returned to Boston's lineup after sitting out Tuesday night at Phoenix with a right knee contusion. Brown had 23 points for the Celtics, who finished 3-1 on a Western Conference trip. They had won five straight and nine of 10 before running out of steam in the thin air.

Colorado native Derrick White scored 18 of his 20 points in the second quarter.

Jokic struggled from the field and behind the arc. He shot 11 of 28 overall and was 4 of 13 on 3-pointers, but helped spark an 11-0 run to end the third quarter that gave Denver a 10-point lead heading into the final period.

The Nuggets extended the lead to 17 on Jonas Valanciunas’ tip-in midway through the fourth, and Boston coach Joe Mazzulla took out his starters.

Denver honored Doug Moe with a tribute video at the first timeout. Moe, who won 432 games in his 10 seasons as the Nuggets' coach, died Feb. 17 at 87. He led them to the Western Conference finals in 1985 and won two Midwest Division titles with Denver.

Celtics: Host Brooklyn on Friday night.

Nuggets: At Oklahoma City on Friday night.

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Boston Celtics center Neemias Queta reacts after dunking the ball for a basket in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, right, shoots for a basket over Denver Nuggets guard Bruce Brown in the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Boston Celtics forward Sam Hauser, front, drives past Denver Nuggets guards Julian Strawther, back left, and Jamal Murray in the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, left, drives to the basket as Denver Nuggets guard Christian Braun defends in the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

GENEVA (AP) — Iran and the United States prepared to meet Thursday in Geneva for nuclear negotiations, talks viewed as a last chance for diplomacy as America has gathered a fleet of aircraft and warships to the Middle East to pressure Tehran into a deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump wants a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program, and he sees an opportunity while the country is struggling at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests last month. Iran meanwhile has maintained it wants to continue to enrich uranium even as its program sits in ruins following Trump ordering an attack in June on three of the Islamic Republic's nuclear sites.

If an American attack happens, Iran has said all U.S. military bases in the Mideast would be considered legitimate targets, putting at risk tens of thousands of American service members. Iran has also threatened to attack Israel following a bruising 12-day war last year, meaning a regional war again could erupt across the Middle East.

“There would be no victory for anybody — it would be a devastating war,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told India Today in an interview filmed Wednesday just before he flew to Geneva.

“Since the Americans' bases are scattered through different places in the region, then unfortunately perhaps the whole region would be engaged and be involved, so it is a very terrible scenario.”

Araghchi again will sit across from Steve Witkoff, a billionaire real estate developer and friend of Trump who serves as a special Mideast envoy for the president. The two men held multiple rounds of talks last year that collapsed after Israel launched its war against Iran in June. These latest talks are again being mediated by Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula that's long served as an interlocutor between Iran and the West.

Araghchi met Oman's Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi after arriving in Geneva on Wednesday night. The men “reviewed the views and proposals that the Iranian side will present to reach an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, based on the guiding principles agreed upon in the previous round of negotiations,” a report from the state-run Oman News Agency said.

In this round of negotiations after the June war, Trump has pushed to halt Iran's enrichment of uranium entirely, as well as address Tehran's ballistic missile program and its support of regional militant forces. Iran has maintained the talks must remain focused only on nuclear issues.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Wednesday that Iran is “always trying to rebuild elements” of its nuclear program. He said that Tehran is not enriching uranium right now, “but they’re trying to get to the point where they ultimately can.”

Iran has said it hasn't enriched since June, but it has blocked inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency from visiting the sites America bombed. Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press also has shown activity at two of those sites, suggesting Iran is trying to assess and potentially recover material there.

The West and the IAEA say Iran had a nuclear weapons program until 2003. Before the June attack, it had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Iran has yet to restart a weapons program, but has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.” While insisting its program is peaceful, Iranian officials have threatened to pursue the bomb in recent years.

“The principle’s very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” U.S. Vice President JD Vance told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.

Vance said Trump is “sending those negotiators to try to address that problem” and “wants to address that problem diplomatically.”

“But, of course, the president has other options as well,” Vance added.

If the talks fail, uncertainty hangs over the timing of any possible attack.

If the aim of potential military action is to pressure Iran to make concessions in nuclear negotiations, it’s not clear whether limited strikes would work. If the goal is to remove Iran’s leaders, that will likely commit the U.S. to a larger, longer military campaign. There has been no public sign of planning for what would come next, including the potential for chaos in Iran.

There is also uncertainty about what any military action could mean for the wider region. Tehran could retaliate against the American-allied nations of the Persian Gulf or Israel. Oil prices have risen in recent days in part due to those concerns, with benchmark Brent crude now about $70 a barrel. Iran in the last round of talks said it briefly halted traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes.

Satellite photos shot Tuesday and Wednesday by Planet Labs PBC and analyzed by the AP appeared to show that American vessels typically docked in Bahrain, the home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, were all out at sea. The 5th Fleet referred questions to the U.S. military’s Central Command, which declined to comment. Before Iran’s attack on Qatar in June, the 5th Fleet similarly scattered its ships at sea to protect against a potential attack.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Melanie Lidman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

Vehicles drive past the Saint Sarkis church and a painting of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A woman walks past a painting on the wall of a girls school at Enqelab-e-Eslami, or Islamic Revolution, street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Commuters drive past Saint Sarkis church and a mural of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)