THUNDER 95, MAVERICKS 79: Kevin Durant scored 31 points and visiting Oklahoma City led from wire-to-wire to take a commanding 3-0 series lead over Dallas.

Russell Westbrook scored 11 of his 20 points in the third quarter as the Thunder pulled away and put the defending NBA champions on the brink of elimination.

Game 4 is Saturday night in Dallas. No team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a postseason series.

Serge Ibaka had 10 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots and James Harden and Derek Fisher added 10 points apiece as the Thunder moved within one win of avenging last season's five-game playoff loss to the Mavericks.

Dirk Nowitzki had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead Dallas, but the reigning NBA Finals MVP scored only one point in the decisive third quarter when the Mavericks went 4 of 18 from the floor.

Oklahoma City had squeezed out one- and three-point home wins in the first two games of the series, but it took control from the outset behind Durant, who bounced back from a pair of sub-par shooting performances with a dazzling 11-of-15 performance.

The three-time NBA scoring champion scored 15 points in the first 10 minutes of the game to help the Thunder build a 15-point lead, and the Mavericks spent the rest of the game trying to catch up.

Dallas got within 50-45 early in the third quarter before Westbrook scored nine points in a 15-6 burst to extend the lead to 66-50.

With the lead at 11, the Thunder scored the final seven points of the third quarter and opened the fourth with an 8-1 run to push the advantage to 25 points at 83-58 with just over 10 1/2 minutes to play.

Fisher scored nine points and Daequan Cook hit two 3-pointers in the decisive 15-1 burst.

Durant had 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting at the half to lead all scorers.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Oklahoma City buried 12 of 28 3-point attempts, while Dallas was 7 of 22 from long range. ... It was the second-worst playoff home loss for Dallas, behind only a 17-point defeat to Phoenix in 2005. ... Mavericks PG Jason Kidd was named the winner of the 2011-2012 NBA Sportsmanship Award, which goes to the player who makes significant off-court contributions. ... Thunder G Harden was one of two additions to the pool of finalists for the Olympic men's basketball roster. Harden averaged a career-high 16.8 points this season.