Heat a win away from clean sweep

New York : LeBron James woke from a third-quarter slumber to lead the visiting Miami Heat to an 87-70 thumping of the New York Knicks on Thursday and a commanding 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven play-off series.

Miami dealt the Knicks a record 13th successive play-off defeat dating back to April 2001 and put themselves on the brink of reaching the second round. No NBA team has ever recovered from a 3-0 deficit in the play-offs.

James sat out the last seven-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter after picking up his fourth personal foul in a ferocious defensive struggle at Madison Square Garden that Miami led 58-56 going into the final quarter.

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder left defending champions the Dallas Mavericks on the verge of defeat after crushing them 95-79 to lead 3-0 in their series. Kevin Durant led the way with 31 points for the Thunder whose lead was cut to 50-45 early in the third quarter before they broke the game wide open with a torrent of three-pointers.

Russell Westbrook finished with 20 points and Serge Ibaka with ten points and 11 rebounds as Oklahoma City landed 42 per cent of field goals while holding their opponents to 34 per cent.