The Cleveland Cavaliers have closed in on a place in the Eastern Conference semi-finals with a 103-95 win over the Boston Celtics, putting them 3-0 up in their first-round playoff series.

Having won their home games in the first two fixtures, Cleveland made a strong start at TD Garden, opening up a six-point lead by the end of the first quarter and building to eight at the interval.

The Celtics stuck with the visitors in the second half though, allowing Evan Turner to reduce the deficit to just three inside the final three minutes, but Kevin Love added six points to quickly re-establish the advantage.

Boston pushed to get back into a point-scoring position, but managed to add just one free throw in the final two minutes, leaving Cleveland to secure the win.

LeBron James led the scoring, finishing the game with 30, while JR Smith had his highest-scoring game of the series so far with 15.

Cleveland will be able to confirm their place in the next round with victory in game four on Sunday.