SAN ANTONIO — Kevin Durant scored a game-high 26 points Thursday night as the Golden State Warriors moved within one game of a first-round playoff sweep of the San Antonio Spurs with a 110-97 victory here.

The second-seeded Warriors can advance to the Western Conference semifinals with a victory in Game 4 at San Antonio Sunday afternoon.

No team has ever rebounded from a 3-0 deficit to win an NBA playoff series.

The only negatives for Golden State were Durant rolling his left ankle and guard Shaun Livingston turning his right ankle in the fourth quarter. Durant left the game for good with the Warriors ahead by 15 points.

Afterward, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, “Both sprained ankles, but I think they’ll be all right.”

The Spurs played Game 3 without coach Gregg Popovich, whose wife, Erin, died Wednesday. Assistant coach Ettore Messina filled in for Popovich.

Golden State put itself in a commanding position in the series by gradually pulling away from the seventh-seeded Spurs, who had the third-best home record in the NBA during the regular season.

Five Golden State players, including Durant, bombed in 3-pointers in the third quarter, as the Warriors turned a 58-56 advantage into an 84-68 margin late in the period.

Durant hit nine of his 17 shots to help Golden State outshoot the Spurs 51.2 percent to 42.5 percent from the floor.

Durant also collected a team-high nine rebounds and handed out six assists.

Klay Thompson contributed 19 points, Livingston 16 and Quinn Cook 12 for Golden State, while Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala added 10 apiece.

Green had a game-high seven assists to go with six rebounds and four blocked shots for the Warriors, who have won at least one road game in their past 17 playoff series.

The win was the Warriors’ 11th in their past 12 meetings with the Spurs, and also was the 50th for Kerr in 65 playoff games. He became the fastest in NBA history to reach the milestone.

LaMarcus Aldridge posted an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double for the Spurs, who lost in the first round of the playoffs just four times in their previous 20 visits.

Tony Parker had 16 points, Patty Mills 14 and Rudy Gay 11 for San Antonio, which shot just 7-for-33 (21.2 percent) from 3-point range.

Sixers 128 Heat 108

Joel Embiid scored 23 points in his first career playoff game to lift the Philadelphia 76ers past the host Miami Heat.

Dario Saric and Marco Belinelli added 21 points each for the Sixers, who took a 2-1 series lead with Game 4 looming Saturday. Ben Simmons had a terrific all-around game with 19 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.

Embiid had been out with an orbital bone injury and was forced to wear a protective mask. He went through three different masks during the game and looked uncomfortable at times in the first half.

Goran Dragic led the Heat with 23 points while Justise Winslow added 19.

Pelicans 119, Trail Blazers 102

Nikola Mirotic and Anthony Davis led the way as New Orleans dominated from start to finish in a dismantling of visiting Portland, giving the Pelicans a 3-0 lead in a Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Mirotic scored 30 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Davis collected 28 points and 11 boards for New Orleans, which will try to sweep the best-of-seven series at home Saturday. Rajon Rondo chipped in 16 points and 11 assists for the Pelicans, who led by 33 points with seven minutes to play.

CJ McCollum scored 22 points, Al-Farouq Aminu 21 and Damian Lillard 20 for the Trail Blazers, who committed 24 turnovers. — Reuters