WASHINGTON, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Houston Rockets and the Milwaukee Bucks routed their rivals Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons respectively in Game 1 of a best-of-seven first-round playoff series on Sunday night.
James Harden had 29 points and 10 assists, helping his team lead by double-digits for the most of the game and take out Utah 122-90. Although Utah opened the second half with a 10-3 run, the Rockets kept their momentum with each of their starting lineup scoring at least 10 points. Eric Gordon had 17, Clint Capela scored 16, Chris Paul added 14 and P.J. Tucker had 11. The Jazz, however, suffered a scoring drought. Donovan Mitchell had 19 points and Ricky Rubio finished with 15 points.
In the eastern conference, the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks routed Pistons 121-86 in Game 1. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 24 points and 17 rebounds in just 24 minutes, opening the game with a 20-4 spurt.
Detroit player Andre Drummond was given a flagrant 2 foul and ejected in the third quarter. Without forward Blake Griffin, who sat out with a left knee injury, Detroit trailed by as many as 41 points and failed to narrow the gap. Seven Bucks players scored in double digits. Eric Bledsoe had 15 points, and Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton each added 14. George Hill scored 16 points off the bench.
In other games, Portland won Game 1 against the Thunder 104-99. Damian Lillard scored 30 points in that matchup. The Boston Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers 84-74 with Kyrie Irving and Marcus Morris each scoring 20 points.
