ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Wendell Carter Jr. made a go-ahead dunk with 1.4 seconds left, and the Orlando Magic beat the Dallas Mavericks 115-114 on Thursday night to spoil Cooper Flagg's return from injury.
Flagg's three-point play with 37.3 seconds left gave Dallas a four-point lead, but Orlando scored the last five points. Jalen Suggs hit a 3-pointer with 32.2 seconds left, and after Flagg missed a jumper, Suggs fed Carter in the paint for the decisive slam.
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Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) drives to the basket against Dallas Mavericks forward Dwight Powell, left, during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Dallas Mavericks forward Khris Middleton (20) is called for a loose ball foul as he grabs on to Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs (4) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) grimaces as he collides with Orlando Magic forward Noah Penda, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. (34) celebrates with Noah Penda, center, and Colin Castleton after making the game winning shot against the Dallas Mavericks with 1.4 seconds left in an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Tristan da Silva led the Magic with 19 points. Suggs finished with 17 points and seven assists, Paolo Banchero had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Carter scored 15.
Flagg scored 18 points on 7-of-22 shooting in 26 minutes. The top pick in the NBA draft and the league's highest-scoring rookie, he had missed the previous eight games with a sprained left foot.
Klay Thompson scored 24 points for the Mavericks, coming off the bench to make seven 3-pointers. Khris Middleton scored 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, but the Mavericks lost for the 15th time in 17 games.
Flagg had five rebounds and six assists and blocked four shots. His first basket, a putback early in the fourth quarter, put him above 1,000 points in his 50th career game. The 19-year-old joined Michael Jordan and Luka Doncic as the only players since the 1976 NBA-ABA merger with 1,000 points, 300 rebounds and 200 assists in his first 50 games, per ESPN Insights.
Dallas played without Brandon Williams, who has a left quad contusion.
Mavericks: At Boston on Friday.
Magic: At Minnesota on Saturday.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) drives to the basket against Dallas Mavericks forward Dwight Powell, left, during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Dallas Mavericks forward Khris Middleton (20) is called for a loose ball foul as he grabs on to Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs (4) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) grimaces as he collides with Orlando Magic forward Noah Penda, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Orlando Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. (34) celebrates with Noah Penda, center, and Colin Castleton after making the game winning shot against the Dallas Mavericks with 1.4 seconds left in an NBA basketball game, Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Intense Israeli airstrikes pounded the capitals of Iran and Lebanon early Friday as the U.S. apparently struck an Iranian drone carrier at sea, intensifying its campaign targeting the Islamic Republic’s fleet of warships.
Iran launched new retaliatory attacks in the Middle East at the end of a full week of bombardment, which U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned was “about to surge dramatically.”
Israel’s military said Friday morning it had begun “a broad-scale wave of strikes” on Tehran, Iran’s capital. Witnesses described the Israeli airstrikes as particularly intense, shaking homes in the area. Others reported explosions around the Iranian city of Kermanshah in an area that is home to multiple missile bases.
The Israeli military said strikes have already destroyed most of Iran’s air defenses and missile launchers.
The war has escalated to affect countries across the Middle East and beyond. Early Friday, Iran fired missile and drone attacks into Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, all countries that host U.S. forces. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
In Lebanon, where the war has intensified fighting between Israel and Iran-allied Hezbollah militants, Israel launched a series of airstrikes late Thursday into Friday in the southern suburbs of Beirut and other areas. Motorists jammed roads trying to flee or seek shelter.
The U.S. and Israel have battered Iran with nationwide strikes, targeting their military capabilities, leadership and nuclear program.
Iran’s attacks have targeted their Arab neighbors, disrupted oil supplies and snarled global air travel. The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, more than 120 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. Six U.S. troops have been killed.
The U.S. military said early Friday that it struck an Iranian drone carrier, setting it ablaze.
The U.S. military’s Central Command released black-and-white footage of the burning carrier. The Iranian military did not immediately acknowledge the attack.
The drone carrier, the IRIS Shahid Bagheri, is a converted container ship with a 180-meter-long (yard) runway for drones. The vessel can travel up to 22,000 nautical miles without needing to refuel in ports, reports said at the time of its 2005 inauguration.
Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, described the carrier as “roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier.”
“And as we speak, it’s on fire,” Cooper told reporters.
Speaking alongside Cooper, Hegseth gave few details Thursday when he promised an upcoming surge.
“It’s more fighter squadrons, it’s more capabilities, it’s more defensive capabilities,” Hegseth said. “And it’s more bomber pulses more frequently.”
Qatar’s Defense Ministry reported early Friday it intercepted a drone attack targeting Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts the forward headquarters of the U.S. Central Command.
Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles fired early Friday toward Prince Sultan Air Base south of Riyadh, which hosts U.S. forces, said a spokesperson for Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense.
Air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain, where the Interior Ministry said Iranian strikes targeted two hotels and a residential building. It said there were no casualties. In Kuwait, where the six U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday, the Kuwaiti army said its air defenses were activated when missile and drone attacks breached Kuwait’s airspace.
In brief remarks at the White House on Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump again urged the Iranian people to “help take back your country.” This time he promised the U.S. would grant them “immunity” amid the war and ongoing dangers under the current Iranian regime.
“So you’ll be perfectly safe with total immunity,” Trump said, without giving any details about what that meant. “Or you’ll face absolutely guaranteed death.”
In an interview with the news website Axios, Trump said he should be involved in choosing Iran's new supreme leader to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strikes of the war. Trump spoke dismissively of Khamenei's son, Mojtaba Khamenei, being a front-runner to replace his father, calling him “a lightweight.”
“We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said.
Iran has not requested talks with the U.S. to bring an end to the widening war, Iran’s ambassador to Egypt told the Associated Press on Thursday. Ambassador Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour denied comments by Trump that Iran wants to negotiate.
He said a lack of trust makes such engagement impossible after talks for a possible nuclear deal twice failed and ended with war.
“There will be no trust in Trump,” Ferdousi Pour said.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. Navy of committing “an atrocity at sea” for sinking the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean, killing at least 87 crew members.
The Iranian ship was returning from an exercise hosted by the Indian navy that the U.S. also joined. Sri Lankan authorities said 32 crew members were rescued. Araghchi said it had been carrying “almost 130” crew.
An Iranian cleric later called on state television for the shedding of both Israeli and “Trump’s blood.”
Israel carried out at least 11 airstrikes late Thursday and early Friday, targeting the southern suburbs of Beirut. Fires broke out near a gas station.
The Israeli army issued a warning Thursday evening, urging residents to “save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately.” Two hospitals evacuated patients and staff. No casualties were immediately reported.
The Lebanese health ministry said the death toll has risen to 123 since the resurgence of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which struck Israel in the opening days of the war.
A spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, Tilak Pokharel, said Thursday that peacekeepers had seen and heard clashes, including ground combat, in southern Lebanon as more Israeli forces have moved across the border.
Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia, and Abou AlJoud from Beirut, Lebanon. AP journalists around the world contributed.
A man passes by a destroyed car and shop on a commercial street that was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Nabatiyeh town, south Lebanon, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Rescue workers check a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Nabatiyeh town, south Lebanon, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A stranded passenger sleeps on the floor outside Dubai International Airport terminal as the airport resumes limited operations in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
A giant poster shows the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh, while workers check a destroyed building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Nabatiyeh town, south Lebanon, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Some holding pictures of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, mourners reach out to coffins during a funeral for people killed during the ongoing U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Isfahan, Iran, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Payman Shahsanaei/ISNA via AP)
