Top-seeded Celtics, Thunder win playoff openers

LOS ANGELES: The top-seeded Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder rolled to convincing victories in their opening NBA playoff series on Tuesday (May 7).

Eastern Conference top seeds Boston laid down a marker with a 120-95 rout of the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers at the TD Garden.

Oklahoma City meanwhile were made to work harder by Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks before finally pulling clear to seal a 117-95 victory in their Western Conference semi-final series opener.

In Boston, Jaylen Brown scored 32 points while Derrick White added 25, including seven three-pointers, in an emphatic win for the Celtics, who are chasing a record 18th NBA championship.

Boston were in complete control for most of the game, holding a double-digit lead through the second half to close out an emphatic win at the TD Garden.

Boston star Jayson Tatum added 18 points but had an off-night shooting-wise, making just 7-of-19 from the field.

Donovan Mitchell led the scoring for Cleveland with 33 points, with Evan Mobley adding 17 and Darius Garland 14.

Brown said the Celtics' defence had laid the foundation for the win.

"It starts with defence, we wanted to set the tone on defence and we kept them under 100 (points)," Brown told TNT television.

"But we feel like we've got an answer for everything so we just play the game the right way, and see what they want to take away and then we play after that."

Boston got off to a flying start, jumping out to an early 12-2 first quarter lead before a Cleveland rally saw them edge into a 23-21 lead after Mitchell's running three-pointer.

But Boston responded swiftly, reclaiming the lead immediately and never allowing Cleveland to get their noses in front thereafter.

After taking a 10-point lead into half-time,