Nets rout Celtics to grab 2-0 lead

Joe Harris tied a franchise playoff record with seven 3-pointers, Kevin Durant scored 26 points and the Brooklyn Nets routed the Boston Celtics 130-108 on Tuesday night for a 2-0 lead in their firstround playoff series.

Harris had a career playoff-high 25 points and James Harden added 20 as the Nets unleashed their lethal offense after winning Game 1 largely with defense.

Marcus Smart scored 19 points and Kemba Walker had 17 for the Celtics. Leading scorer Jayson Tatum had only nine points on 3-for-12 shooting before leaving after just 21 minutes when he was poked in the right eye.

RANDLE NAMED MOST IMPROVED PLAYER » Julius Randle was voted the NBA’s Most Improved Player on Tuesday after leading the New York Knicks to the playoffs during his best season.

Randle was a runaway winner after earning his first All-Star berth in his seventh NBA season, receiving 98 first-place votes from a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters.

CAVS LOSE PRE-DRAFT TIEBREAKER TO THUNDER » Cleveland lost a tiebreaker on Tuesday to Oklahoma City and will have the No. 5 position in next month’s draft lottery, one spot below the Thunder.

The teams finished with identical records this season, prompting a “coin flip” that didn’t go the Cavs’ way.

The league decided five other teams among those with identical regularseason records: Chicago (31-41) won a tiebreaker with New Orleans and Sacramento; Charlotte (33-39) won a tiebreaker with San Antonio; New York Knicks (41-31) won a tiebreaker with Atlanta; Dallas Mavericks won a tiebreaker with the Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers; and the Clippers (47-25) won a tiebreaker with Denver.