The Golden State Warriors survived a comeback from the New Orleans Pelicans to begin their playoff campaign with a narrow win.

The top seeds in the Western Conference, led by Stephen Curry, were 25 points up midway through the third quarter before Anthony Davis started to cut the gap.

David added 20 of his 35 points in the last quarter to reduce the deficit to just four with a minute to play, but the Warriors did just enough to hold on.

The Chicago Bulls were too strong for the Milwaukee Bucks in the second half of the opening game of their playoff meeting at the United Center.

After a quiet first half, Derrick Rose led the charge after the break, adding three three-pointers in the second half on his way to finishing with 23 points.

Khris Middleston and Zaza Pachulia tried to give Milwaukee some hope, getting them to within three in the third quarter, but they could not close the gap further.

The Houston Rockets got the better of the Dallas Mavericks in their first playoff meeting, beating their Texas rivals by 10 points at the Toyota Center.

The home side surged ahead in the first quarter, opening up a 13-point gap by the end of the opening 12 minutes, but the Mavericks closed the deficit by half time.

James Harden led the scoring with 24, making sure that the Rockets remained ahead in the second half.

The Washington Wizards needed overtime to open their first-round playoff series with a win over the Toronto Raptors at the Air Canada Centre.

The visitors were comfortably ahead at the break, but Kyle Lowry got the Raptors back on level terms with 25 seconds remaining.

Paul Pierce made sure the Wizards were ahead at the start of overtime, adding a three-pointer to finish the game with 20 points.

Results in full: Washington Wizards 93-86 Toronto Raptors, New Orleans Pelicans 99-106 Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks 91-103 Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks 108-118 Houston Rockets