NEW YORK (AP) — Day'Ron Sharpe matched a season high with 19 points, Ochai Agbaji added 18 and the Brooklyn Nets beat the injury-plagued Memphis Grizzlies 126-115 on Monday night for their second straight victory.
Nolan Traore added 17 points for the Nets, who were coming off an improbable 107-105 win at Eastern Conference-leading Detroit on Saturday night that snapped a 10-game skid.
Click to Gallery
Memphis Grizzlies' Javon Small (10) defends Brooklyn Nets' Jalen Wilson (22) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Memphis Grizzlies' Olivier-Maxence Prosper, center, drives past Brooklyn Nets' Chaney Johnson, right, and E.J. Liddell during the second half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Memphis Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo reacts during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets Monday, March 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Brooklyn Nets' Ziaire Williams (1) shoots over Memphis Grizzlies' Walter Clayton Jr. (4) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
The Nets, who rested leading scorer Michael Porter Jr., had six players score in double figures. The Grizzlies had only eight players available.
Rayan Rupert scored a career-high 20 points and Javon Small added 19 for Memphis, which has lost four straight and 11 of 14.
The Grizzlies were missing Ja Morant (left elbow), Scotty Pippen Jr. (right toe soreness), Santi Aldama (knee), Ty Jerome (calf), Cedrix Coward (right knee), newcomer Taj Gibson (reconditioning), Taylor Hendricks (right thumb soreness) and Brandon Clarke (calf). Zach Edey and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are out for the season.
Brooklyn led by single digits throughout the third quarter before taking control early in the fourth. Traore made a 3-pointer that put the Nets ahead 101-90, and Agbaji followed with two buckets off feeds by Ziaire Williams for a 15-point lead.
Brooklyn had a 67-40 advantage in bench points.
Earlier Monday, the Nets announced that Egor Demin will miss the rest of the season with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. The 6-foot-8 rookie averaged 10.3 points in 52 games.
Grizzlies: At Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Nets: Host Detroit on Tuesday.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Memphis Grizzlies' Javon Small (10) defends Brooklyn Nets' Jalen Wilson (22) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Memphis Grizzlies' Olivier-Maxence Prosper, center, drives past Brooklyn Nets' Chaney Johnson, right, and E.J. Liddell during the second half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Memphis Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo reacts during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets Monday, March 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Brooklyn Nets' Ziaire Williams (1) shoots over Memphis Grizzlies' Walter Clayton Jr. (4) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, March 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) — Australia granted asylum to five members of the Iranian women’s soccer team who were visiting the country for a tournament when the Iran war began, a government minister said Tuesday.
The announcement followed days of urging by Iranian groups in Australia and by U.S. President Donald Trump for the Australian government to help the women, who had not spoken publicly about a wish to claim asylum. The team drew widespread speculation and news coverage in Australia when players didn't sing the Iranian anthem before their first match.
Early Tuesday, Australian federal police officers transported five of the women from their hotel in Gold Coast, Australia, “to a safe location” after they made asylum requests. There, they met with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and the processing of their humanitarian visas was finalized, the minister told reporters in Brisbane hours later.
“I don't want to begin to imagine how difficult that decision is for each of the individual women, but certainly last night it was joy, it was relief,” said Burke, who posted photos to social media of the women smiling and clapping as he signed documents. “People were very excited about embarking on a life in Australia.”
The women granted asylum were happy for their names and pictures to be published, he said. Burke added that the players wanted to make clear that they were "not political activists.”
The Iranian team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, before the Iran war began on Feb. 28. The team was knocked out of the tournament over the weekend and faced the prospect of returning to a country under bombardment. Iran’s head coach Marziyeh Jafari said Sunday the players “want to come back to Iran as soon as we can."
An official squad list named 26 players, plus Jafari and other coaches. Burke said the offer of asylum was extended to all on the team.
“These women are tremendously popular in Australia, but we realize they are in a terribly difficult situation with the decisions that they’re making,” Burke said. “The opportunity will continue to be there for them to talk to Australian officials if they wish to.”
It was not clear when the remaining players were due to leave Australia. Reporters waited outside the team's hotel Tuesday along with a group of about 15 members of the public, some of whom wore red, white and green clothing or held pre-Revolution Iranian flags.
Burke didn't detail what threats the players faced if they returned to Iran. During the tournament, the women have mostly declined to comment on the situation at home, although Iran forward Sara Didar choked back tears in a news conference Wednesday as she shared their concerns for their families and all Iranians.
The Iranian team has drawn national news coverage in Australia after the players' silence during the anthem before an opening loss to South Korea last week was viewed by some as an act of resistance and others as a show of mourning. The team hasn’t clarified. They later sang and saluted during the anthem before their remaining two matches.
“Australians have been moved by the plight of these brave women,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters Tuesday. “They're safe here and they should feel at home here.”
Albanese said Australian officials had made offers of support “clear” to the athletes.
“They then had to consider that and do it in a way that did not present any danger to them or to their families and friends back home in Iran,” he added.
Australia's announcement came after Trump on Monday in Washington called on Australia to grant asylum to any team member who wanted it. Earlier that day, Trump had lambasted Australia on social media, saying Australia was "making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the ... team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed.” Trump added: “The U.S. will take them if you won’t.”
Less than two hours later, in another social media post, Trump praised Albanese, saying, “He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.”
The president's offer of asylum represented something of a change for Trump, whose administration has sought to limit the number of immigrants in the U.S. who can receive asylum for political purposes.
Albanese said Trump had called him for “a very positive conversation,” about the matter. The Australian leader had explained “the action that we'd undertaken over the previous 48 hours,” to support the women.
He applauded Australian news outlets for their restraint in not publicizing developments in the story earlier.
Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand, and Rico from Atlanta.
In this photo supplied by Australia's Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke's office, the Minister Tony Burke, center, poses in an undisclosed location with five Iranian women soccer players who have been granted asylum in Australia, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (Australia Ministry of Home Affairs via AP)
