The Boston Celtics responded to the loss of one of their defensive leaders by putting forth a dominant effort on that end of the floor to begin their best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series with the Indiana Pacers. They'll try to maintain their stranglehold on the Pacers and take a commanding 2-0 series lead when the teams meet Wednesday night in Boston.

The Detroit Pistons felt the absence of Blake Griffin in Game 1 on Sunday, but even the return of an All-Star might not have been enough to overcome the Milwaukee Bucks. The Pistons will try to bounce back and steal homecourt advantage from the NBA-best Bucks when they visit Milwaukee for Game 2 on Wednesday.

The Houston Rockets annihilated Utah in the opener and look to take a 2-0 lead when they host the Jazz on Tuesday in the second game of the Western Conference first-round series. Seven players scored in double digits and the fourth-seeded Rockets made 15 3-pointers while posting an easy 122-90 victory over fifth-seeded Utah.