Day one of the NBA playoffs; Warriors-Spurs, Raptors-Wizards, 76ers-Heat, Trail Blazers-Pelicans,

BEN Simmons was on fire for Philadelphia as he led the 76ers to a win in their first playoff appearance since season 2011-12.

Ben Simmons had a playoff debut to remember.

• Simmons leads the way
• Klay Thompson stars for Warriors
• Simmons leads the way

Live: NBA playoffs

Ben Simmons starred for the Philadelphia 76ers as they extended their winning streak into the postseason against Miami.

THE NBA playoffs begun with four games taking place on the opening day.

Golden State defeated Aussie Patty Mills and his San Antonio teammates before the Toronto Raptors downed the Washington Wizards.

Ben Simmons led the Philadelphia 76ers to a win over the Miami Heat and New Orlenas became the only road team to record a win by defeating Portland

3pm

Pelicans steal opening road game

For the first time in seven years the New Orleans Pelicans have won a playoff game after defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 97-95.

In thrilling scenes, the Blazers came roaring back into the contest as their relentless work on the offensive boards began to pay dividends.

Blazers guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum managed to find their offensive rhythm in the fourth quarter but their late charge was denied by stellar defensive efforts from Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday.

Holiday nullified multiple attempts from the Blazers playmakers when the game was up for grabs and helped hand the Pelicans home court advantage for the series.

Pelicans marquee big man Anthony Davis continued his remarkable end of season form as he lead all scorers with 35 points while also pulling down 14 rebounds and adding four blocks.

The sixth-seeded Pelicans were the only road team to win on the opening day of the NBA playoffs. Nikola Mirotic had 16 points, 11 rebounds and also blocked four shots to help Davis earn the first victory of his playoff career.

Game two of the series will take place in Portland on Wednesday.

Jrue Holiday comes up with the clutch block in crunch time to lift the @PelicansNBA over @trailblazers 97-95 in Game 1!#DoItBigger #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/VjvGMwz4dI

— NBA (@NBA) April 15, 2018

1pm

Simmons leads the charge

Ben Simmons fell just one rebound short of a triple-double to sensationally lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a game one 130-103 blowout victory over the Miami Heat in the NBA Playoffs.

The Melbourne-born rookie was instrumental in his first NBA post-season game and delivered 17 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds.

Simmons’ assists were the most recorded by a rookie in a playoff game since Spud Webb had 18 in 1986. He’s also the first rookie with 14 or more assists in his first ever playoff game in nearly 40 years, the feat not having been achieved since Magic Johnson in 1980.

.@sixers G-F @BenSimmons25 14 assists are the most by a rookie in a playoff game since Spud Webb had 18 on April 19, 1986.
h/t @bball_ref

— Sixers Stats (@SixersStats) April 15, 2018

Ben Simmons is the first NBA rookie with 14 or more assists in his first career playoff game since Magic Johnson of the Lakers had 16 in a 119-110 win over Phoenix on April 8, 1980.

— Reuben Frank (@RoobNBCS) April 15, 2018

The result extended the 76ers’ record win streak to 17 and confirmed to the rest of the league they are legitimate title contenders.

Philadelphia, playing in front of a raucous home crowd without injured All-Star centre Joel Embiid, trailed 56-60 at halftime, but with Simmons in control they went on a 20-2 third quarter run and launched a barrage of three-pointers in the final period to extinguish the Heat.

JJ Redick scored 28 points to lead the Sixers while Marco Belinelli had 25 and Ersan Ilyasova 17.

“There is a gratitude that I have, we have. Finally, here we are and our fans genuinely have something to be proud of with us,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said.

For a half, the Heat got what they needed against one of the NBA’s toughest teams and James Johnson and Kelly Olynyk helped them take a 60-56 lead at the break. Olynyk led the Heat with 26 points.

The Sixers, who set an NBA record with 16 straight wins to end the season, got the rout in full swing with a raucous crowd behind them. The Heat shot 26 per cent in the third and were outscored 34-18.

Simmons assisted on Ilyasova’s three-pointer and then hit a jumper for a 66-63 lead. Dario Saric, who the Sixers waited for two years to come over while he played overseas, also buried a three off an assist from Simmons.

Simmons made a statue out of Olynyk, crossing him up and busting through for a two-handed slam that brought down the house.

ben simmons glides around on the court the same way an air hockey puck moves it's incredible

— Shea Serrano (@SheaSerrano) April 15, 2018

Ben Simmons absolutely destroys teams whenever they try and cross match in transition. When he's in at the 1, it's simply not fair in the open floor.

— Micah Adams (@MicahAdams13) April 15, 2018

— AAP

10.10am

Raptors bite Washington

Serge Ibaka had a day out.

Serge Ibaka had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Delon Wright scored 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, and the Toronto Raptors snapped a 10-game losing streak in playoff series openers by beating the Washington Wizards 114-106.

DeMar DeRozan added 17 points, C.J. Miles and OG Anunoby each had 12, and Kyle Lowry had 11 points and nine assists for the Raptors, whose only previous victory in the opening game of a playoff series came in the second round against Philadelphia in 2001.

Toronto entered having lost an NBA-worst 10 consecutive Game 1s since, including six at home.

The top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference, Toronto made 16 of 30 three-point attempts, with Miles making four, and Ibaka and Wright each hitting three. The Raptors host Game 2 on Tuesday.

John Wall had 23 points and 15 assists for the Wizards, while Markieff Morris had 22 points and 11 rebounds.

Bradley Beal scored 19 points for Washington, while Mike Scott had 14 and Marcin Gortat 12.

Washington led 91-88 when Scott was called for a flagrant foul after using his elbow to knock Lowry down early in the fourth. Lowry made both free throws and, on the ensuing possession, Wright gave Toronto the lead with a layup. After a missed shot by Morris, Miles hit a three to cap a 7-0 run that gave the Raptors a 95-91 lead with 9:26 left.

Kelly Oubre Jr. hit a three and Gortat made a dunk to put Washington back in front, but Wright and Miles each hit three-pointers as Toronto used an 8-0 run to take a 103-96 lead with 6:27 left, and never trailed again.

Anunoby made his first two three-pointers and led Toronto with eight points in the first as the Raptors led 28-23 after one. Wall scored nine points in the opening quarter.

Gortat and replacement Ian Mahinmi each had two fouls before the first quarter was half over. Gortat picked up his first when he fouled Jonas Valanciunas on the opening tip.

Beal scored seven points in the second, five of them in a 10-2 Wizards run that gave Washington a 42-41 lead with 6:20 left in the half. Scott had eight points in the quarter as the Wizards led 59-55 at halftime.

Toronto reclaimed the lead with an 11-2 spurt to start the third. DeRozan scored 12 points in the quarter as the Raptors took a slim 86-85 lead into the fourth. The game was about five minutes late tipping off because of an apparent issue with moisture on the court along the baseline adjacent to Washington’s bench. Arena staffers continued to dry the area periodically throughout the game.

— AP

7.40am

Thompson shines in ‘scary’ show

Klay Thompson was in fine form.

Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson helped the defending champions get defensive in a hurry. Durant finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and seven assists as the Golden State Warriors returned to their old dominant selves at playoff time to beat the cold-shooting San Antonio Spurs 113-92.

Durant, Draymond Green and Thompson took charge in Game 1 of the first- round series to elevate the Warriors’ intensity at last playing without fellow All-Star and injured two-time MVP Stephen Curry, still sidelined with a sprained left knee.

Thompson found his shot and scored 27 points, making 11 of 13 shots, while 7-footer JaVale McGee started in Steve Kerr’s centre-by-committee approach and contributed 15 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots in 16 minutes.

Per ESPN, Thompson became the first Warrior to score at least 25 points and shoot at least 80 per cent from the field in a playoff game since 1989.

Klay went OFF. pic.twitter.com/LbpL3vLQNG

— ESPN (@espn) April 14, 2018

Klay Thompson is the first Warriors player with 25+ points while shooting at least 80% from the field in a playoff game since Mitch Richmond in Game 3 of the 1989 First Round. pic.twitter.com/eSItQDxbqC

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 14, 2018

Rudy Gay led the Spurs with 15 points off the bench as leading scorer LaMarcus Aldridge was limited to 14 points on 5-for-12 shooting.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday at Oracle Arena. The defending champions looked unbeatable again. And that was without the do-everything Curry.

The Warriors said all week it’s a new season, then went out and showed it. They have plans for nothing short of a repeat title.

Golden State came with the kind of swarming defence it is so used to playing but hadn’t shown much lately as rotations were mixed and matched because of injuries and illness.

San Antonio couldn’t keep up from the opening tip.

Beat up and missing its four All-Stars at times, Golden State endured a stretch losing seven of 10 last month.

“I noticed that Steph wasn’t there,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich cracked before the game. “I watched real closely. I turned it off for a while ... turned it back on and he still wasn’t there. I noticed that. But after that I didn’t watch anything else, it was too scary.”

Golden State swept San Antonio in the Western Conference Finals a year ago on the way to a second championship in three seasons and an astonishing, record-setting 16-1 postseason run.

Kerr always said his team would be ready when these playoffs came around. The Warriors were determined to pick up their defence ahead of Game 1, and they did just that.

Green, Durant and the others quickly closed on shooters and got hands up to alter shots.

2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala moved into the starting line-up for the 2018 edition of that “Strength In Numbers” mantra — and all those bright yellow T-shirts through the arena are there to back it.

Iguodala, who started just seven games all season before Saturday, had missed four of the final five regular-season games with a sore left knee. After diving into the baseline fans late in the first half, he headed to the locker room early but returned for the third quarter.

7.15am

Simmons leads the way

Ben Simmons has led Philly to the playoffs.

Ben Simmons is ready to face the greatest test of his young NBA career by leading the Philadelphia 76ers into the playoffs.

The 76ers play the Miami Heat in game one of a best-of-seven first round playoff series on Sunday (AEST) in front a ferocious crowd in Philadelphia. Simmons’ playoff debut will be another childhood dream come true for the Melbourne-born 21-year-old.

“I’m ready to go,” Simmons told reporters on Saturday. “I’m ready to play.”

His job became a lot harder when 76ers coach Brett Brown confirmed Joel Embiid had been ruled out of game one.

The All-Star centre is recovering from a fractured orbital bone and 76ers’ fans were hoping he would don a protective mask and play.

Brown said there is no clear date for the big man’s return.

The 76ers enter the playoffs on a 16-game win streak, a feat no other NBA team has achieved heading into the postseason.

The streak is a 76ers record and rocketed the team up the Eastern Conference standings to an unexpected third seed.

Embiid was out with the face fracture for nine of the streak’s wins, which has buoyed the 76ers and made rival NBA teams take notice.

“It’s hard not to notice how well they’ve played the last 16 games,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

The Heat are seeded sixth in the East but match up well with the 76ers, the teams splitting this season’s four regular season games.

Veteran Heat guard Dwyane Wade praised NBA Rookie of the Year favourite Simmons’ leadership during the absence of Embiid.

“He’s done an amazing job,” Wade said. “As a young player every night he is consistently bringing the game that wins and that’s playing all-round basketball.”

Patty Mills and his San Antonio Spurs open their playoff campaign on Sunday against long-time Western Conference rivals the Golden State Warriors. Both teams, uncharacteristically, look vulnerable.

The Warriors limped into the second seed in the West while the Spurs drifted to seventh.

The Warriors’ two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry is likely out for the series with a serious left knee sprain.

Kawhi Leonard, the Spurs’ best player, has been absent since January with a mysterious quadriceps injury — speculation is he has issues with team management.

Canberra-born Mills is expected to start at shooting guard and be given the defensive job on the Warriors’ taller and lethal sharpshooter Klay Thompson. On Sunday, Aron Baynes’s Boston Celtics (the second seed in the East) take on the seventh-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, featuring Australian duo Matthew Dellavedova and Thon Maker.

Kiwi big man Steven Adams and the West’s fourth-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder host the fifth-seeded Utah Jazz, featuring Joe Ingles and Dante Exum on Sunday. On Saturday, the East’s top-seeded Toronto Raptors host the Washington Wizards and the Portland Trail Blazers are at home against the New Orleans Pelicans. The other Sunday games are the overall No.1 seeded Houston Rockets hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Cleveland Cavaliers with home court advantage against the Indiana Pacers.

— Peter Mitchell, AAP

Originally published as Day one of the NBA playoffs; Warriors-Spurs, Raptors-Wizards, 76ers-Heat, Trail Blazers-Pelicans,