The San Antonio Spurs moved closer to their fourth NBA title in nine years, beating Cleveland Cavaliers 75-72 on Tuesday.

With the away victory, the Spurs had a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven NBA Finals, with Game 4 on Thursday. No team in NBA history has won a series after trailing 3-0.

Tony Parker scored 17 points while Tim Duncan added 14 points and nine rebounds for the Spurs. Manu Ginobili, 0-for-7 from the field, hit his only points on three free throws in the last 10.4 seconds to create the final margin.

LeBron James scored 12 of his 25 points in the final quarter but it was not enough to rescue the Cavaliers. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 12 points and 18 rebounds.

The Spurs made 10-of-19 3-point shots while Cleveland was only 3-of-19 from beyond the arc.

Both teams matched the second-fewest combined points in any NBA Finals game, only beating the record low of 145 from Syracuse and Fort Wayne in 1955. They also combined to equal the lowest-scoring quarter in NBA Finals history by producing only 27 points in the third period.

The Cavaliers fell to 7-2 at home in the playoffs while the Spurs rose to 6-2 on the road in the playoffs.

Bruce Bowen contributed 13 points and nine rebounds for the Spurs in addition to tight defense guarding James.

The Cavaliers started rookie guard Daniel Gibson, who averaged 15.5 points a game off the bench in the first two games, had only two in game three.

LeBron James has a game-high of 25 points.

Tony Parker leads the Spurs with 17 points.

(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2007)