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Crunch time has arrived in the NBA with the playoffs officially underway.

From 21 April, the 16 basketball teams that survived until the postseason will battle it out in a best-of-seven first round series to determine who will advance to the next stage: the conference semi-finals.

The Boston Celtics clinched the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference in March and are hunting a return to the finals for the time since 2022. But before they can think about that, they must overcome the No.8 seed Miami Heat.

Over in the West, the defending champion Denver Nuggets finished the regular season as the No. 2 seed, behind Oklahoma City Thunder in first. Their first round playoff battle includes a battle with the LeBron James-led LA Lakers.

For some teams, the post-season fight started with the play-in tournament where four teams – the Lakers, New Orleans Pelicans, Heat and Philadelphia 76ers – booked their place in the playoffs.

Just eight teams – four from each conference – will advance to conference semi-finals due to take place from 6-7 May. However, should the prior round end early it could be moved up to 4-5 May.

Find out all the latest scores from the first round of the playoffs below.