Lillard, Blazers edge Thunder
PORTLAND, Ore. — Damian Lillard scored 30 points, and the thirdseeded Portland Trail Blazers opened their playoff series against the No. 6 Oklahoma City Thunder with a 104-99 victory on Sunday.
Enes Kanter added 20 points and a career playoff-high 18 rebounds for the Blazers, who were making their sixth straight postseason appearance. CJ McCollum added 24 points.
Russell Westbrook had 24 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for his ninth career postseason tripledouble. Paul George, who was a game-time decision because of a sore shoulder, had 26 points and 10 rebounds after a slow start.
Portland led by as many as 19 points in the first half, but the Thunder pulled within 80-77 early in the fourth quarter. Oklahoma City couldn’t get closer, and Lillard hit a 30-footer to extend the Blazers’ lead to 89-81 with 6:38 left.
CELTICS 84, PACERS 74
Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris each scored 20 points, and host Boston rallied in the second half to beat Indiana in Game 1 of their first-round series.
Jayson Tatum finished with 15 points. Al Horford added 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Gordon Hayward had 10 points. It was the first playoff game since 2017 for Irving and Hayward after each missed last year’s postseason with injuries.
The Pacers led by 11 points in the first half but had just eight points in the third quarter.
BUCKS 121, PISTONS 86
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points and 17 rebounds in just 24 minutes, and top-seeded Milwaukee showed it was serious about making a playoff run with a rout of visiting Detroit in Game 1.
The MVP candidate ran and dunked all over the Pistons, who only really caught him when center Andre Drummond shoved him to the ground with both hands late in the third quarter after Antetokounmpo grabbed an offensive rebound with Detroit trailing by 41. Drummond was given a flagrant 2 foul and ejected.