A collective effort propelled the Cleveland Cavaliers back into the series with the Boston Celtics as they came out with purpose at home to grab a 116-86 victory in Game 3.

After failing to provide LeBron James with much help in the first two contests in Boston, the Cavaliers looked like a whole team again at Quicken Loans Arena as several members of the supporting cast provided valuable contributions.

While Cleveland’s offence responded with a strong effort which saw six players score in double figures and shoot 17-of-34 from long range, their cohesion was arguably more noticeable on the other end.

“Even when things broke down, we just covered for one another,” James said of the team defence. “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.”

In Boston, the Celtics seemingly got any shot they wanted whenever they moved the ball, averaging 55.0 points in the paint and 101 uncontested shots in total in the wins.

The Cavaliers, however, offered much more resistance in Game 3, surrendering just 34 points in the paint and contesting 76 per cent of Boston’s shots, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

It was a flip from the first two games of the series, when the Celtics were the more physical team and made everything hard fro Cleveland.

“Just the physicality. Not letting them be comfortable, communicating on screens, things like that,” George Hill said.

“From Game 1 and 2 to Game 3, what we did better was when guys did make mistakes, we had teammates there. That extra effort and energy wasn’t there in Game 1 and 2. It cost us a lot of wide-open 3s, and I don’t think they got a lot of those today.”

Cleveland were clearly the more desperate team as they brought their best to avoid falling into an insurmountable 3-0 hole, but Boston had the look of a side that had become too comfortable after holding serve at home.

Celtics guard Terry Rozier said as much, stating: “We needed to get our butts whooped. Come back to reality and take care of business on Monday.”

He added: “I feel like we needed this to get us back, to get us ready for Monday.”

Boston, who have been a different team on the road than at home in these playoffs, will try to win just their second game in hostile territory in Game 4 on Monday (UAE: 04:00 +1).