The Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets won their opening games in the NBA playoffs with relative ease on Saturday, while the Washington Wizards pulled off an upset on the road in Toronto.
Warriors vs PelicansStephen Curry scored 34 points and the Warriors went up big before holding off the New Orleans Pelicans 106-99 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. Klay Thompson added 21 points, and Draymond Green and Australian center Andrew Bogut dominated down low as the Warriors looked every bit like the NBA's top seed.
ADVERTISEMENT
They smothered the Pelicans with the league's best defense, leading by 15 after the first quarter, 18 at the half and 25 late in the third.
The Pelicans pulled within four in the final minute behind Davis, who scored 20 of his 35 points in the final quarter, to make the contest seem closer than it really was.
ADVERTISEMENT
In Houston, James Harden had 24 points and Corey Brewer scored 13 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Rockets past the Dallas Mavericks 118-108. Brewer made three 3-pointers in a three-minute span in the fourth to keep the Mavericks at bay. He added another three points when he made a layup and a free throw to give Houston a 109-95 lead with three minutes left.
Dirk Nowitzki had 24 points for the Mavericks.
Wizards vs RaptorsIn the East, Paul Pierce scored five of his 20 points in overtime as the Wizards beat the Toronto Raptors 93-86 in Game 1 of their series.
Amir Johnson scored 18 points and DeMar DeRozan had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Raptors, who have yet to win the opening game of a first-round series in seven postseason appearances.
Bulls vs BucksIn Chicago, Derrick Rose had 23 points and seven assists in his first postseason game in three years and Jimmy Butler scored 25 points as the Bulls topped the Milwaukee Bucks 103-91.
The Bulls won despite committing 19 turnovers. They outrebounded Milwaukee 52-41, with Pau Gasol grabbing 13 and Joakim Noah and rookie Nikola Mirotic taking 11 apiece.