Miami Heat Take 3-0 Lead in Series Against Knicks

The Miami Heat are now one game away from winning their first round series against the New York Knicks, winning the May 3 encounter between the two teams 87-70.

For the first time in the series, the Knicks actually competed with the Heat, taking a four point lead into the halftime break. The Heat started their comeback in the third quarter, and a 17 point fourth quarter performance by LeBron James sealed the Knicks' fate.

"He [LeBron] was in foul trouble," Chris Bosh told reporters about LeBron's performance in Game 3. "He was struggling a little bit and he pretty much had the whole third quarter to think about what was going on. I think that was good for him. I think it really built a desire in him a little bit and then he made sure we got off to a great start in the fourth quarter which was very important for us."

LeBron led Miami's offense on Thursday night, putting up a game high 32 points. He also added 8 rebounds and 5 assists to the stat sheet. Dwyane Wade was right behind LeBron, finishing with 20 points, 5 steals, and 4 assists.

Chris Bosh wasn't really aggressive in Game 3, but he played pretty well, shooting 60 percent from the field. He finished with 9 points and 10 rebounds.

The Heat were lucky enough to increase their series lead to 3-0 on May 3, but the performance of their role players was unacceptable. With the exception of Mario Chalmers - who finished with 19 points and 7 rebounds, shooting 64 percent from the field - Miami's role players simply didn't show up for Game 3, putting up a combined 7 points and 11 rebounds (collectively shooting 14 percent from the field).

Luckily for the Heat, their defense made up for the role players' poor shooting, but they can't afford to play that poorly when they try to close out their series against the Knicks on May 6.

"Coaches like those type of wins when you're not playing necessarily really well," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters. "Some of the game was ugly. Actually, most of it was almost unwatchable. The 'good' parts were merely ugly."

David is a Miami Heat fan that has followed the team for 16 years. Follow him on twitter @davidkingwriter and check out his blog.
 
Sources:
Associated Press, "LeBron James, Heat pound Knicks, take commanding 3-0 lead"
Joseph Goodman, "Miami Heat overcomes uneven first half to defeat New York Knicks…"