Durant and Smith each score 30 points to power the Rockets past the Mavericks 128-110 in the opener

HOUSTON (AP) — Kevin Durant and Jabari Smith Jr. scored 30 points apiece and the Houston Rockets used a big second quarter to build a huge lead and coast to a 128-110 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.

The Rockets led by six after the first quarter before outscoring Dallas 38-12 in the second to take a 32-point lead into halftime.

Durant and Smith each scored 16 points each in the first half. The Rockets were up by 15 midway through the second before using a 19-2 run to make it 70-38 at halftime.

Kyrie Irving had 15 points for Dallas in his first regular-season game since tearing his left ACL in March 2025. But it was a tough debut for Dallas coach Dusty May, who led Michigan to the NCAA championship before being hired to replace the fired Jason Kidd.

Cooper Flagg, the 2025 No. 1 pick and last season's NBA Rookie of the Year, led the Mavericks with 32 points. P.J. Washington had 10 points and four rebounds.

The Mavericks used a 9-0 run, with six points from Marcus Sasser, to cut the lead to 103-86 with about nine minutes remaining. But Houston used an 8-2 spurt with 3s from Durant and Fred VanVleet to push it to 111-88 about a minute later.

Alperen Sengun added 23 points with 10 rebounds for the Rockets. VanVleet chipped in six points with 11 assists in his return after missing last season recovering from a torn ACL.

Houston’s Tari Eason was ejected with about three minutes left in the first quarter after receiving a flagrant foul 2 for shoving Washington to the court.

Mavericks: Visit Indiana on Friday night.

Rockets: Play San Antonio in Austin, Texas on Friday.

See AP’s full NBA coverage here

Houston Rockets guard Fred VanVleet, left, controls the ball against Dallas Mavericks guard Marcus Sasser during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

Dallas Mavericks head coach Dusty May reacts on the sidelines during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving, center, controls the ball against Houston Rockets' Marcus Smart (36) and Alperen Sengun (28)during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

Houston Rockets guards Fred VanVleet (5) and Marcus Smart (36) celebrate the Rockets' lead against the Dallas Mavericks during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant, center, shoots the ball over Dallas Mavericks forward Morez Johnson Jr., left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A man has been charged with threatening an Australian lawmaker’s staff with nunchucks, police said Thursday, days after another legislator was critically injured when a man repeatedly hit her with a car.

The incidents are heightening concerns about female politicians’ safety and raising concerns about security in a country where lawmakers are highly accessible to the public.

Police say that a 56-year-old man entered Western Australian state government minister Hannah Beazley’s electorate office in suburban Perth on Wednesday, brandishing nunchucks and making verbal threats. Beazley wasn't in the office at the time.

Nunchucks are a weapon used in martial arts consisting of two sticks or rods connected by a rope or chain.

The man was detained and charged with being armed in a way that may cause fear and with threatening to perform an unlawful act. He spent the night in police custody and will appear in a Perth court later Thursday, police said.

There was no allegation the man’s behavior was connected to the driver who hit federal lawmaker Helen Haines with his car in the east coast state of Victoria on Monday.

Haines' alleged attacker, Brendan Nugent, appeared in a court on Wednesday charged with intentionally causing serious injury, dangerous driving causing serious injury and causing harm to a federal official. He did not enter pleas and remains in custody.

Police are still searching for a motive.

Haines, a 65-year-old independent lawmaker, remained in critical condition on Thursday in a Melbourne hospital where surgeons have amputated both her legs, a health department statement said.

Both the Haines and Beazley incidents have raised concerns about the safety of female politicians, who account for a growing proportion of lawmakers in Australian parliaments.

Just under 50% of federal lawmakers and a majority of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Cabinet are women.

Australian lawmakers are some of the most accessible in the world and political violence has traditionally been rare. But there are fears that increasingly toxic public debate driven by social media creates additional risks for elected women.

Albanese said the fact that the threat to Beazley came so soon after the alleged attack on Haines was “just heartbreaking.” Beazley is the daughter of Albanese's former federal colleague, Kim Beazley.

“We can have debate and disagreement, but do it in a way without descending into the sort of violence that we have seen in too many parts of the world,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “It’s certainly not who we are as Australians.”

Albanese attended an online security briefing this week for women lawmakers in his center-left Labor Party. Security agencies addressed misogynistic threats directed at them.

Male and female federal lawmakers agree that women are facing the worst of the online abuse.

“Of course people are concerned. They’re anxious,” Albanese said. “There has been a normalization of behavior that can be very aggressive in a way that wasn’t happening a couple of decades ago.”

Hannah Beazley said she was in the state parliament when the man entered her electorate office demanding to see her.

Beazley said two members of her staff had been “rattled,” but had remained safe behind a security screen.

“We don't know his motives at all,” she told reporters on Wednesday.

Governor-General Sam Mostyn, who is only the second woman to ever serve as the British monarch’s representative in Australia, said that she was abused on social media for speaking at a press conference on Wednesday alongside Haines’ husband Phil Haines.

“Like any woman who has stepped up into any position across any part of our society, there is a unique and pernicious form of attack that comes our way,” Mostyn told ABC.

“Women across the country know that there are certain things that are reserved for women in that attack that go to our gender and they are often vicious and just despicable,” she added.

Western Australian state government minister Hannah Beazley arrive for a Labor caucus meeting in Perth, Australia, June 6, 2023. (Richard Wainwright/AAP Image via AP)