Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (right) controls the ball against Oklahoma City Thunder shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha during their NBA game in Oklahoma City on Thursday. (USA TODAY Sports)

DPA/Los Angeles

James dropped in 33 points, leading the Miami Heat to a 103-81 beat-down over the league-best Oklahoma City Thunder.

The reigning league most valuable player, James was forced to leave the game with a bloody nose midway through the fourth quarter after getting unintentionally whacked across the face by Serge Ibaka en route to completing a ferocious dunk.

“He goes up, gets hit in the face, and then goes up and finishes,” said teammate Chris Bosh. “He’s the biggest, strongest athlete in the league.”

James tumbled to the court and was given a towel to stop the bleeding. Minutes later, he headed to the locker room for treatment.

James passed a concussion test and Thunder team physicians determined x-rays were not necessary. He will be further evaluated in Miami.

“It’s bleeding, it’s sore,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the swollen nose. “He got hit pretty good.

“I’m like everybody else. We’re used to seeing him like Superman get up and sprint back even after a tough hit. But we don’t know what it is and that means something is up.”

Dwyane Wade and Bosh netted 24 points apiece as the Heat (39-14) rolled to a fourth straight win to complete a 5-1 road trip.

The two-time defending NBA champions also gained a measure of revenge after getting routed by 17 at home in January.

“They whooped us pretty good at our home so we wanted to return the favour,” Wade said. “More than anything we wanted to get the road win.”

League top gun Kevin Durant was held to 28 points for the Thunder, (43-13), who had won nine in a row at home but suffered its worst loss at Chesapeake Energy Arena since April 2009.

“We didn’t play well,” Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. “We were out of sync and turned the ball over too many times.”

All-Star guard Russell Westbrook added 16 points in his first game since December 25 following a third knee surgery in less than a year.

“I’m happy that he’s back,” Brooks said. “He had some good moments.”

Most of the good moments were reserved for James, who had 21 points by halftime, including 16 in the first quarter, as the Heat raced to a 34-17 cushion before settling for a 54-47 advantage at the break.

“We gave them too many easy points,” Durant explained. “LeBron had like 10 points in transition.”

The gap grew to 22 in the third quarter before Durant scored nine points in a 12-1 period-ending run as the Thunder cut it in half.

The Heat opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 burst behind 3-pointers from Ray Allen and Bosh to push the lead to 19 as James watched from the bench.

Ahead by 16, James re-entered the game with just over nine minutes remaining and three minutes later he was done.

Elsewhere

Golden State Warriors 102, Houston Rockets 99 (OT): Stephen Curry hit the game-tying layup with 3.2 seconds remaining in regulation and added seven of his 25 points in overtime, as the Warriors snapped the visiting Rockets’ season-high eight-game winning streak.

David Lee had 28 and 14 rebounds for Golden State (33-22), which ended a nine-game slide in the series.

James Harden led Houston (37-18) with 34 of his 39 points in the second half. Chandler Parsons added 21 while Dwight Howard pulled down 21 boards in the setback.

Denver Nuggets 101, Milwaukee Bucks 90: Kenneth Faried scored 26 points, J.J. Hickson had 14 with 10 rebounds and the visiting Nuggets (25-28) bounced the league-worst Bucks.

Caron Butler topped Milwaukee (10-44) with 17 points, and Turkish-native Ersan Ilyasova had 14 with 11 rebounds.