NBA Round up - Nets, Heat, Bucks & Suns win NBA playoff openers

Jayson Tatum spun in for a buzzer-beating layup to give the Boston Celtics a thrilling 115-114 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday in the first game of their NBA Eastern Conference playoff series.

Tatum scored 31 points to lead the Celtics, who thwarted a fourth-quarter comeback bid by the Nets to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round series.

The reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks, Eastern Conference top seeds Miami and Western Conference top seeds Phoenix also won their playoff openers.

The Bucks, led by NBA Most Valuable Player award finalist Giannis Antetokounmpo, beat the Chicago Bulls 93-86, and the Heat dominated the Atlanta Hawks 115-91.

In Phoenix, veteran point guard Chris Paul scored 19 of his 30 points in the second half as the Suns, who finished the regular season with the best record in the league, led wire-to-wire in a 110-99 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.

In Boston, Tatum added eight assists and two blocked shots, Jaylen Brown added 23 points, and Al Horford and Marcus Smart scored 20 apiece for the Celtics, who took a 96-85 lead into the fourth quarter but trailed 114-111 with less than a minute to play.

Former Celtic Kyrie Irving, booed throughout by Boston fans who still resent his departure for Brooklyn, led the Nets with 39 points. However, Kevin Durant was the only other Nets starter in double figures with 23.

Irving will no doubt hear from the NBA after a middle-finger salute to heckling fans in the third quarter, but he saved his best gesture for the fourth period, when he scored 18 points to key the Nets' comeback bid.

Irving's long three-pointer over Smart put Brooklyn up 114-111 with 1:04 to play.

But the Celtics clamped down defensively and pulled within one on Brown's driving