NEW YORK – The top-seeded Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder proved on May 7 that they deserved to be where they are, with convincing victories in their opening National Basketball Association (NBA) second-round play-off series.

Boston, who led the Eastern Conference and also the league all season, 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 home victory in the West.

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

The team were in complete control for most of the game, holding a double-digit lead through the second half to close out an emphatic home win.

Jayson Tatum added 18 points but was disappointing percentage-wise, making just seven of 19 from the field.

Donovan Mitchell led the scoring for Cleveland with 33 points, while Evan Mobley added 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),” he said. “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 ahead 23-21 after Mitchell’s running three-pointer.

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

After taking a 10-point lead into half-time, Boston kept the pressure up in the second half, stretching out to a 26-point lead in the fourth quarter as they romped to a comfortable win.

Game 2 takes place in Boston again on May 9.

On his own performance, Brown added: “I had it rolling tonight. You just want to come out and make the right plays, make the right reads. That’s all it is.”

In Oklahoma City, the Thunder and the Mavericks fought a nip-and-tuck duel before the No. 1 seeds pulled away decisively in the fourth quarter.

Trailing by nine points at half-time, Dallas rallied in the third quarter to get within one point at 66-65.

But the youthful Thunder line-up began to find their range, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 10 points in the third quarter to help his team build a 10-point cushion heading into the final period.

Oklahoma City’s barrage of scoring continued in the fourth, with Jalen Williams adding 10 points, as the Thunder outscored their visitors 28-16 to seal victory by a 22-point margin.

Gilgeous-Alexander led the 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 Doncic, struggling with a sore knee, finished with 19.

Oklahoma City, who have an average age of just over 23, are the youngest team to win a second-round play-off game and were the youngest team to win a post-season series after sweeping the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round.

“We don’t worry about all the statistics and how young we are,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, 25.

“We just want to win games at a high level and that’s what we focus on. We try to get that done every night and tonight we did so.”

Doncic said the Mavericks would need to improve dramatically for Game 2 taking place in Oklahoma City on May 9.

“We’ve just got to move on to the next one. I’ve got to be better, we’ve got to be better,” he said.

“They’re a great defensive team and a great offensive team, so it’s not going to be easy at all.” AFP