Stephen "Steph" Curry said the Golden State Warriors had to "dig deep" to beat the Houston Rockets 103-89 in the deciding game of their Western Conference first-round play-off series.
The Boston Celtics suffered a shock defeat against the New York Knicks while the Oklahoma City Thunder were beaten by the Denver Nuggets in the first games of their Conference play-off semi-finals.
The Celtics, the reigning champions, were on the wrong end of an 108-105 overtime defeat at home in the opening match of their Eastern Conference best-of-seven series.
Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby each scored 29 points for the Knicks, who fought back from being 20 points behind during the third quarter.
Brunson missed a lay-up with three seconds left in regulation while Jayson Tatum, who was the joint-top scorer for the Celtics with 23 points, missed a long-range effort at the buzzer with the score at 100-100 before the Knicks sealed the win in overtime.
Game two in the series will be played at 19:00 local time (00:00 Thursday BST) in Boston on Wednesday.
The Thunder, who finished top of the Western Conference, were beaten 121-119 by a visiting Nuggets side inspired by Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon.
Jokic registered 42 points, 22 rebounds and six assists for the Nuggets, while Gordon - after Chet Holmgren missed two free throws for Thunder - went up the other end and scored a game-winning three-pointer in the closing seconds.
Gordon finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds.
Denver were 13 points behind at one stage of the fourth quarter but ended it with a 19-6 run to go 1-0 up in the series.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander top scored for Thunder as he tallied 33 points,10 rebounds and eight assists.
Game two of the series will take place at 21:30 local time in Oklahoma on Wednesday.