SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Jamal Murray scored 45 points and made the go-ahead free throws with 31.8 seconds remaining to help the Denver Nuggets hold off the depleted Utah Jazz 128-125 on Monday night.
Utah's Keyonte George scored 36 points, but was denied two free throws that could have given the Jazz the lead on what would have been Nikola Jokic's sixth foul with 16.3 seconds remaining — a shooting foul that was reversed to a blocked shot after a lengthy review.
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Utah Jazz guard Isaiah Collier (8) goes to the basket while guarded by Denver Nuggets guard Bruce Brown (11) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George (3) drives to the basket guarded by Denver Nuggets guard Julian Strawther, center back, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
Utah Jazz center Oscar Tshiebwe (34) drives to the basket while guarded by Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray reacts to making a 3-point basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
Jokic, who had 22 points and 12 rebounds, made two free throws with 6.1 seconds left and George missed a last-second 3-pointer as the Nuggets escaped with the win.
Cam Johnson was a late scratch with a hurt ankle, but Julian Strawther scored 15 points and Jonas Valanciunas added 13 for Denver.
With Jokic on the bench and most of his teammates lacking energy in the second game of a back to back, Murray made five 3s and scored 18 points in the third quarter to push the Nuggets to a 100-93 lead entering the fourth. Murray was 13 of 19 from the field and had eight 3s along with seven turnovers.
George, in his second game back after missing three weeks to ankle sprains, matched Murray's shot-making in 30 minutes of action on 14-for-22 shooting, with four 3s. His dunk with 2:13 left gave Utah a 122-118 lead.
Lauri Markkanen and most of Utah's starters and rotation regulars have been shelved due to injury, but the Jazz never let the Nuggets' lead reach double figures.
Kyle Filipowski scored 19 points and Ace Bailey had 18 for the Jazz, who have lost six straight.
Denver had lost three of four, including a 117-108 loss to Minnesota on Sunday night and the consecutive games seemed to take a toll.
Denver: Hosts the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.
Utah: Vists the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA
Utah Jazz guard Isaiah Collier (8) goes to the basket while guarded by Denver Nuggets guard Bruce Brown (11) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George (3) drives to the basket guarded by Denver Nuggets guard Julian Strawther, center back, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
Utah Jazz center Oscar Tshiebwe (34) drives to the basket while guarded by Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray reacts to making a 3-point basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. State Department on Tuesday ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Bahrain and Jordan.
The State Department announcement online said the decision came “due to safety risks.”
The State Department has urged Americans across the Mideast to leave over the ongoing war with Iran.
The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia has acknowledged coming under attack from Iranian drones Tuesday and urged Americans to avoid the diplomatic post for the time being.
The Saudi Defense Ministry earlier Tuesday said the embassy was attacked by two drones.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran hit the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital with a drone strike early Tuesday as it kept striking targets around the region, while the United States and Israel pounded Iran with airstrikes in what U.S. President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a relentless campaign that could last more than a month.
The attack from two drones on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire” and minor damage, according to Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry, which did not release further details. It follows an attack the day before on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait.
The expansion of Iranian retaliation across the Gulf and the intensity of the Israeli and American attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the lack of any apparent exit plan portend a possible prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences.
Many countries deemed safe havens in the Mideast have been hit by Iran in retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli strikes, with recent targets including two Amazon data centers in the United Arab Emirates and a drone impact near another in Bahrain that caused damage, the company said Tuesday. Iran has also hit energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several ships Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, sending global oil and natural gas prices soaring.
The U.S. State Department urged U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to safety risks, as have many other countries, though with much of the airspace closed many remain stranded.
Trump said operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.”
“The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters before briefing members of Congress about the Iran operation.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the U.S.-Israeli operation has killed at least 555 people. In Israel, where several locations were hit by Iranian missiles, 11 people were killed. Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah killed dozens of people in Lebanon.
“Military escalation would force more families from their homes and hit civilians hard,” said Amy Pope, director general of the International Organization on Migration as she called Tuesday for the international community to press for de-escalation.
“Millions are already displaced in the region,” she said.
The U.S. military has confirmed six deaths of American service members. All six were Army soldiers and part of the same logistics unit in Kuwait, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Three people were reported killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Iran’s top diplomat on Monday shared a photo showing graves he said were for more than 160 girls killed during a U.S.-Israeli strike on a school in Minab. “Their bodies were torn to shreds,” Abbas Araghchi, the country’s foreign minister, said on X.
In Israel, three young siblings killed by an Iranian strike were being laid to rest at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on Monday night.
The chaos of the conflict became apparent when the U.S. military said Kuwait had “mistakenly shot down” three American fighter jets while Iran was attacking it with aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely.
Iranian state TV said strikes caused two explosions early Tuesday at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, but said no one was injured.
Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters that airstrikes targeted the Natanz nuclear enrichment site on Sunday.
“Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie,” he said.
Israel and the U.S. have not acknowledged strikes at the site, which the U.S. bombed in the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June. Israel has said it is targeting the “leadership and nuclear infrastructure.”
Trump said the military campaign’s objectives are to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its navy, prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that it cannot continue to support allied groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which fired missiles at Israel on Monday.
Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to do so and says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained, however, that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” underground for making atomic bombs in an interview broadcast late Monday on Fox News Channel’s Hannity.
“We had to take the action now and we did,” said Netanyahu, who offered no evidence to support his claim.
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two nuclear sites in Iran before the war. Analysts said Tehran was likely assessing damage from the 2025 U.S. strikes and possibly salvaging what remained.
The conflict has also spread to Lebanon, where the Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday, though there were no reports of injuries or damage.
Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon. The country’s Health Ministry reported at least 52 people were killed and 154 wounded in overnight strikes in the Beirut suburbs and southern Lebanon.
An Israeli military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said Israel is keeping “all options on the table,” including a potential ground invasion of Lebanon.
Israel hit Beirut with more airstrikes early Tuesday morning, saying it was targeting “Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities.”
Hezbollah also said it launched drones targeting an Israeli air base. The Israeli military said it downed two drones.
An Iranian-linked militant in Iraq has also claimed strikes on U.S. military facilities.
Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Hallie Golden in Seattle, Washington and Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami contributed to this report. Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy from Cairo.
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, early Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a F-35C Lightning II preparing for launch on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Monday, March 2, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP)
Mourners take cover while air-raid sirens warn of incoming missiles launched by Iran toward Israel during the funeral of Sarah Elimelech and her daughter Ronit who were killed in an Iranian missile attack, in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A worker instals a billboard on an overpass containing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke engulfs a street after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji)
