The top-seeded Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder have scored convincing victories in their first NBA playoff series.
Boston, the top seed in the Eastern Conference, left the scoreboard with a 120-95 rout of the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers at TD Garden on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma City had to work harder thanks to Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks before finally pulling away to seal a 117-95 victory in the opener of their Western Conference semifinal series.
In Boston, Jaylen Brown scored 32 points while Derrick White added 25, including seven three-pointers, in a resounding victory for the Celtics, who are chasing a record 18th NBA championship.
Boston was in complete control for most of the game, maintaining a double-digit lead throughout the second half to close out a commanding victory at TD Garden.
Boston star Jayson Tatum added 18 points, but had a poor shooting night, making just 7 of 19 field goals.
Donovan Mitchell led the scoring for Cleveland with 33 points, Evan Mobley added 17 and Darius Garland 14.
Brown said the Celtics' defense had laid the foundation for the victory.
“It all starts with defense, we wanted to set the tone on defense and we kept them under 100 (points),” Brown told TNT television.
“But we feel like we have an answer for everything, so we just play the game the right way, see what they want to take away from us and then play after that.”
The second game of the series will take place in Boston on Thursday.
🏆FINAL SCORES FOR TUESDAY 🏆
Jaylen Brown comes out in attack mode, scoring 15 in the 1st, en route to 32 for the game as the @celtas Take Game 1!
White: 25 PTS, 7 3PM, 5 AST
Tatum: 18 PTS, 11 REB, 5 AST
Mitchell: 33 PTS, 4 3pm, 6 REB, 5 ASTGame 2: Thursday, 7:00 pm ET on ESPN pic.twitter.com/3cfhBdmcWi
—NBA (@NBA) May 8, 2024
Thunder beat Doncic's Mavericks
In Oklahoma City (OKC), the Thunder and the Mavericks had a close duel before the top seeds pulled away decisively in the fourth quarter.
Dallas, which trailed by nine points at halftime, rallied in the third quarter to pull within one point, 66-65.
But the Thunder's youthful lineup began to find its range, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander adding 10 points in the third quarter to help OKC build a 10-point cushion heading into the fourth quarter.
Oklahoma City's scoring barrage continued in the fourth with Jalen Williams adding 10 points as the Thunder outscored their visitors 28-16 to seal the victory by a 22-point margin.
Gilgeous-Alexander led OKC in scoring, finishing with 29 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, while Chet Holmgren added 19 points and Williams 18.
Kyrie Irving led Dallas with 20 points, while Luka Doncic, battling knee soreness, finished with 19 after shooting 6 of 19 from the field.
Oklahoma City, which has an average age of just over 23, is the youngest team to win a second-round playoff game and was the youngest team to win a postseason series after sweeping the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round.
“We don't worry about all the statistics or how young we are,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the win. “We just want to win basketball games at a high level and that's what we focus on.
“We try to do it every night and tonight we did it.”
Doncic said the Mavericks would need to improve dramatically for Game 2 in Oklahoma City on Thursday.
The Slovenian star played down questions about his own shot.
“Who cares? We lost. We just have to move on to the next one. I have to be better, we have to be better,” Doncic said.
“They are a great defensive team and a great offensive team, so it won't be easy at all. We are going to have to play very good basketball, concentrated, for 48 minutes.”
