The Cleveland Cavaliers were given hope in their Eastern Conference Finals series last night when LeBron James issued a fantastic performance on the court to give his team a vital win over the Boston Celtics.

Celtics 86-116 Cavaliers - Game 3 - Celtics lead series 2-1

The Cavaliers defeated the Celtics 116-86 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Saturday, meaning Boston still leads the series 2-1 overall, but the Cavs won't be giving up without a fight.

As previously mentioned, James had a brilliant night on the court with 27 points, five rebounds, and 12 assists, while Kevin Love also played a big impact in the outcome of the game as well, as he finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds, and four assists. Kyle Korver had a good bench performance of 14 points too.

The four-time MVP winner said after the game to ESPN: "Even when things broke down, we just covered for one another. We made them make extra passes. We made them make extra dribbles. We were flying around, and I just happened to be one of the guys on the floor that wanted to fly around as well."

For the Celtics, Jayson Tatum scored 18 points, Terry Rozier added 13 points, while Jaylen Brown was in foul trouble all night and scored just 10 points after averaging 23 in the first two games.

Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said after the game: "They took it to us. Point blank: They just outplayed us."

Game 4 between the Cavs and Celtics takes place at the Quicken Loans Arena once more in Cleveland on Monday night.

Listen HERE to episode two of the new GiveMeSport NBA podcast, featuring New York Times senior writer Marc Stein.

Enjoy, and please subscribe for all future episodes.