Miami's star players rose to the occasion as the Heat took a 1-0 lead in their first-round play-off series against the Charlotte Bobcats with a 99-88 victory.

LeBron James and Dwayne Wade contributed 27 and 23 points respectively for the defending NBA champions, who were made to work for victory.

The Bobcats led by nine points early in the contest and then went ahead again in the third quarter, but Miami hit back and an 18-4 run in the final period swung the momentum in their favour.

Tim Duncan poured in 27 points as the San Antonio Spurs went ahead in their series with the Dallas Mavericks after a gruelling 90-85 victory in game one.

In a see-saw game, the Western Conference champions led by nine after the first quarter only to trail by one at the end of the half, while the scores were level going into the final period, where the Spurs held off a resilient Mavericks team to prevail.

The Washington Wizards hit back from 13 points down to take their opener against the Chicago Bulls 102-93, with Nene top-scoring with 24 points.

LaMarcus Aldridge poured in 46 points but despite his heroics the Portland Trail Blazers needed overtime to squeeze out the Houston Rockets 122-120 in their series opener.

Damian Lillard added 31 for Portland, with James Harden and Dwight Howard scoring 27 apiece for Houston.