Steven Adams' impressive performance wasn't enough to save the Oklahoma City Thunder from an emphatic 123-108 loss to the Houston Rockets in the opening game of their Western Conference playoff series on Wednesday (NZ time).
Adams was one of the lone bright spots in a lethargic effort from the Thunder, posting a double-double of 17 points, 12 rebounds, as his side fell into a 1-0 deficit in the best-of-seven series.
The Thunder struggled to cope with a stifling Rockets' defence and the dribble penetration of virtuoso James Harden, who poured in 37 points, 11 rebounds to lead an offence that was firing on all cylinders.
The Rockets also received a huge scoring boost from their bench in the absence of All Star guard Russell Westbrook, with Jeff Green posting 20 points and Ben McLemore adding 14, which included five three-pointers.
In stark contrast, the Thunder bench made little impact, as Sixth Man of the Year candidate Denis Schroder only mustered six points on a woeful 3/12 from the field.
Thunder leader Chris Paul made a late surge to finish with, while rising star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander never found his rhythm, managing just nine points on 2/8 shooting. Danilo Gallinari was the Thunder's best, with 29 points.
Game two of the series tips off 7:30am Friday.
Earlier, the Orlando Magic stunned the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks with a 122-110 victory in game one of their Eastern Conference series, powered by a monster game from centre Nikola Vucevic.
Vucevic posted 35 points, 14 rebounds to lift his injury-ravaged team over MVP-in-waiting Giannis Antetokounmpo's highly-favoured Bucks.
In the second Eastern Conference match-up of the day, Jimmy Butler rose to the occasion to help his Miami Heat rally to a 113-101 win over the Indiana Pacers.
Jimmy Butler went for a game-high 28 points and Goran Dragic 24 - including four key hoops down the stretch - for Miami, which beat the Pacers for the second time in three meetings since the NBA restart.
The second notable upset came in the day's late game, where Dame Lillard led the Western Conference's eighth-seeded Portland Trailblazers to a 100-93 win over the top-seed Los Angeles Lakers.
Lillard scored 34 points - including some clutch late baskets - to continue his remarkable run in Orlando, overcoming an enormous game from LeBron James, who posted a mammoth triple-double of 23 points, 17 boards and 16 assists.
