NBA

LeBron’s work in crunch busts the Knicks’ bubble

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra knew better than to ask. But this was LeBron James, who is sort of important to Miami’s overall plan. So Spoelstra inquired about LeBron’s health after James hit the deck, twisting his left knee in the third quarter.

“I don’t even know why I asked. He said, ‘I’m fine, Coach. Don’t even think of taking me out,’ ” Spoelstra said, noting how James played the entire second half, including the fourth quarter when he made play after play.

“He had to do it on both ends, couldn’t get him out in the fourth quarter,” Spoelstra said, “ and if I would have tried, he probably would have strangled me.”

Instead he strangled the Knicks.

In that fourth quarter, James scored 12 points to Carmelo Anthony’s four, grabbed five rebounds, passed for three assists, blocked a shot, made a steal. Anthony’s only other stat in the fourth was one turnover as Miami made every effort possible to keep the ball out of his hands. James (29 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists) was a two-way force, and seemed most pumped over Miami’s defense.

“That’s usually how we win games, tight games. We get stops, we get shots,” said James.

He admitted he was “concerned” after that third-quarter awkward landing — but he got up and immediately hit a jumper to end the worry.

James, who earlier made a critical block on Tyson Chandler, applied the dagger with a steal to snuff the ever-so-dim hopes of the Knicks as he swiped a J.R. Smith pass and went in for a slam with 23.6 seconds left for the final 99-93 score.

“His IQ is very high. He saw what J.R. was doing and he anticipated,” said Jason Kidd, whose 3-point shooting helped the Knicks build a 16-point lead that eventually crumbled. “[He’s] one of the best if not the best basketball player on this planet.”

Anthony, who downplayed an arm injury, finished with 32 points, but 17 in the first quarter when James backed off him after drawing an immediate foul.

“On the first play of the game I got a foul. So I had to come off him for a little bit,” James said. “The second half, I was able to stay away from foul trouble. He’s great player, the league leader in scoring. You just try to make it tough for him. … You try to give him a contest and live with the result.”

And with a franchise record-tying 14th straight win, the Heat were living large.

“This is one of our better wins of the season, under the circumstances,” James said. “A little bit of adversity. Being down double digits there. … We cut it in the third quarter and then they went on another run. For us to withstand that and still come back and win the game, it was good for us.”

fred.kerber@nypost.com