Jaylen Brown praised the Boston Celtics for proving to themselves they are "not here to play around" in their 106-93 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3.

The Celtics' win on Saturday edged them into a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals after losing Game 2 with a defensive performance Brown described as "unacceptable".

At Cleveland, they bounced back - Jayson Tatum had 33 points and 12 rebounds, while Brown added 28 points as the Celtics avoided a second consecutive defeat.

"I think we just need everybody to be on the same page and everybody to come out with the right effort," Brown said.

"That's 85% of the battle right there. We come out, we play hard, and then we're on the same page and the rest will take care of itself. We got enough talent in the locker room to beat teams.

"But if we're not on the same page, and we're not playing hard, those are when we get ourselves in trouble. So making sure, before the game at film and shootaround, talking to everybody, touching everybody, letting everybody know that 'Hey, we're not here to play around.'

"We didn't come to Cleveland for the weather, so let's go.

"It's the playoffs. Anything can happen, especially if you come out flat. We've got to do a better job of that, we can't think like this series is going to go like last series.

"We've got to come out and have the same defensive effort going into Game 4 and that's just the urgency we need to have."

Donovan Mitchell starred for Cleveland, scoring 33 points, but was forced off late in the game due to a knee injury, and despite showing signs of a comeback, they could not find any answers in the fourth quarter.

"I just think we didn't hit the same shots we did [in Game 2]," Mitchell said.

"For us, just being able to finish. We missed a lot of shots at the rim, myself included, missed a lot of shots that I think we just got to make. And also, we didn't really shoot that great from 3, but not a bad per cent, but we didn't shoot that well.

"So I think those are different things, and we got to get our looks and take them, because if we don't, we're driving back into the crowd, and they want us to. So being able to take our shots when they're open."