Milwaukee Bucks' Khris Middleton makes a basket over Miami Heat's Duncan Robinson on Saturday in Milwaukee. Photo: VCG

Khris Middleton nailed a clutch two-pointer with less than one second remaining as the Milwaukee Bucks snatched a thrilling 109-107 overtime victory against the Miami Heat in their NBA Eastern Conference playoff opener on Saturday.

Middleton kept his composure superbly to drain the decisive jump shot from 18 feet with just 0.5 seconds on the clock, handing the Bucks a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven first round series.

In other series openers, the Brooklyn Nets rallied from a 12-point second-quarter deficit to beat the Boston Celtics 104-93.

In the West, the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks rallied late in the fourth quarter to down the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers 113-103 at the Staples Center.

Middleton's dramatic winner marked the final act of a pulsating battle between the two Eastern Conference rivals, who also met in last year's playoffs with the Heat winning that series 4-1.

Heat talisman Jimmy Butler had taken the game to overtime at the end of the fourth quarter, driving to the basket to make it 99-99 as time ran out at Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum.

But Middleton's late winner settled the game in overtime and gives the Bucks the chance to take a grip on the series with Game 2 at home on Monday.

Middleton led the Bucks scorers with 27 points, six rebounds and six assists, with Giannis Antetokounmpo, who appeared to be struggling with a sore left arm, adding 26 points with 18 rebounds and five assists.

The Bucks were almost left to rue another shaky performance from the free throw line from reigning NBA MVP Antetokounmpo, who made only six of 13 free throw attempts for a 46.2 percent completion percentage.

Jrue Holiday added 20 points for Milwaukee while Brook ­Lopez finished with 18 points as the Bucks scraped home.

"It's a good start," Middleton said. "A lot of mistakes, a lot of missed free throws, lot of threes from them, and we missed threes. But it's a great start to what we want to do and where we want to be."

Goran Dragic led the Miami scorers with 25 points, while shooting guard Duncan Robinson finished with 24 points. Butler, the star of Miami's run to the NBA Finals last season, finished with 17 points.