Cavs even series with Celtics after another big game from James

We’re going back to Boston with the Eastern Conference Finals tied at two games apiece!

It looked for awhile like the Cleveland Cavaliers might be overmatched due to the lack of support for LeBron James, but they have evened the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics after Game 4 on Monday, winning 111-102. The series is now at two games apiece as it goes back to Boston.

James, as usual, was very good, with 44 points, including just one made three. He shot 60.7 percent from the field. He did have 7 turnovers though, and the play got a bit sloppy when the Cavs built a lead, which led to the Celtics starting to push for a comeback, primarily on the back of Terry Rozier and Jayson Tatum, but it was too little too late.

Boston was within seven late in the fourth, but the Cavs were able to put them away.

Boston made plenty of mistakes in the first quarter alone, missing on four dunks. They came out and put down a couple dunks in the second, almost as if they wanted to prove that yes, they could still do it. But they quickly fell behind the Cavs, who shot better from range and made fewer mistakes throughout the first half.

Kevin Love had 11 rebounds, while Tristan Thompson had 12, along with 13 points. There were just 15 assists all game for the Cavs. Kyle Korver had 14 points and a couple key blocks.

For the Celtics, Jaylen Brown led the way with 25 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists. The Celtics had 21 assists as a team, but shot a measly 41.2 percent overall and 32.1 percent from range. Tatum finished with 17 points and an assist.

Game 5 should be very, very interesting given the way the first two games were so slanted and how ... that definitely wasn’t the case in Games 3 and 4. The fifth game, at the TD Garden, is set for 8:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Below, you can check the live blog and highlights as Game 4 happened.

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Cavaliers 111, Celtics 102 - FINAL

Play resumes, but there isn’t really time left for the Celtics to make a comeback. James misses a three, and Brown misses a jumper after the rebound. Brown fouls. James makes a turnaround fadeaway. Brown hits a layup. Shot clock violation. Osman gets on the court, and Brown dunks one, perhaps out of frustration. End of game.

Cavaliers 109, Celtics 89 - 1:29 Q4:

After the timeout, Morris misses a layup and James has a loose ball foul, so he’s up to seven turnovers. Rozier misses a three, and Hill hits a jumper to move to 13 points. James had the assist on it. Brown makes a jumper of his own and has 21 points. James sinks a three. Smart sinks a three. Timeout Cavs.

Cavaliers 104, Celtics 93 - 3:31 4Q:

Whew, this is getting sloppier and sloppier. Horford misses a jumper. They get the rebound, and the shot clock eats ‘em up. James commits his sixth turnover of the game, but Morris can’t hit the three to capitalize. Brown makes both free throws after Korver’s fifth personal. James gets to 39 points, and Thompson also has a dunk before Boston takes another timeout.

Cavaliers 100, Celtics 89 - 6:01 4Q:

James misses a jumper, and Horford misses a three. Green misses a jumper. Bad pass from Smart. Love misses on the next possession, then Brown misses, then Rozier misses. Korver commits a shooting foul. Baynes misses the free throw. Korver misses a three, blocked by Baynes. Scoring drought ends with a Love layup. Brown misses a three, James makes a layup and Boston takes a timeout.

Cavaliers 96, Celtics 88 - 8:28 4Q:

Rozier hits a three to start the final frame, and Korver misses one. Hill hits a Jumper, Brown is good for two and Love makes his first three of the game off the Hill assist. Rozier and Baynes both miss, Love misses a three, Green is called for traveling off the rebound, Rozier misses a three and the scoring drought is broken with a beautiful Hill finger roll for two. Brown and Horford both make buckets, and after a 7-0 run for the Celtics, the Cavs take a timeout.

Cavaliers 89, Celtics 76 - END 3Q:

Thompson makes one of two free throws, and then we get about a full minute with no scoring after some misses, including a Korver three. Green picks up his fourh personal and Tatum sinks both free throws. Nance Jr. hits a jumper, then the free throw after a Baynes foul. Nance Jr. gets two more free throws after ANOTHER Baynes foul. Smart misses at hree, and James hits a layup. James misses a three, and has a follow-up layup blocked by Morris. Tatum is good for two, and James misses a three as time expires in the third.

Cavaliers 81, Celtics 72 - 2:59 3Q:

Love misses a three, and Horford hits a layup to close the gap further. James makes a layup to move to 24 points on the game. Morris makes one of two free throws after Love’s fourth technical. James responds with a quick layup. Tatum misses a three, Love missess a layup, and Love picks up his fifth personal. Tatum hits one of the two free throws, and James, once again, has a driving layup to move to 28 points on the game. Rozier gets a steal and Tatum dunks it. Hill gets to seven points on the game with a jumper. James has his third turnover of the game, and Brown has his second steal. Smith is called for a questionable shooting foul and Rozier makes just one of the three free throws. James gets a layup, Horford makes two free throws after a Smith personal. James hits two free throws. Fifth turnover for James, and a layup from Tatum. Brown fouls, his fourth personal, and James makes one of two free throws. Tatum and Smart foul, and Boston takes a timeout.

Cavaliers 68, Celtics 57 - 9:49 3Q:

Smith misses a three to start, Horford sinks a jumper, and James misses a layup. Smith has a turnover, but Horford misses the follow-up. Brown commits a shooting foul , and James misses both free throws. Morris has a foul turnover, then Love has a bad pass, and after Brown hits the layup, Cleveland takes a timeout.

Cavaliers 68, Celtics 53 - END 2Q:

Thompson makes a layup after the timeout, and Brown makes it a nine-point game with another three off the Rozier assist. James hits a jumper to move to 18 points. Rozier misses a three. James hits a turnaround fade and we’ve got another Boston timeout, but it’s a quick one. Smart hits both free throws, then Smith sinks a three for Cleveland. Tatum misses a layup, and Hill misses a three. Hill makes a jumper, Ojeleye misses a three, James makes a jumper, and Horford sinks a three. James has a miss, and Thompson gets a dunk after a steal from Smart. Tatum hits both free throws after a Green personal, his third. And the half ends.

Cavaliers 53, Celtics 43 - 4:18 2Q:

James hits both free throws, and Rozier misses a three. Love gets an offensive foul turnover, and Brown sinks a three for Boston. Korver makes a free throw, and then his a fadeaway jumper. Brown misses a layup, but Morris dunks it. Morris makes a three after a Thompson miss and we get a Cleveland timeout.

Cavaliers 48, Celtics 35 - 6:17 2Q:

Brown is blocked by Korver AGAIN, and Korver goes to the line, hitting three free throws after a Smart foul. James picksu p his second personal, and Tatus hits both free throws. Baynes dunks one on the Smart assist, and Green misses a three for Cleveland. James misses a jumper, Thompson gets the board, and James makes the follow-up with the assist. Horford alley oop dunk, and a Rozier shooting foul leads to James making one of two free throws.

Baynes makes a pair of free throws after a Korver shooting foul. Clarkson has a bad pass turnover, but Smart misses the follow-up. Baynes then makes two more free throws after another Korver foul. Korver responds with a three, off an assist from James. Horford misses a three and Korver hits ANOTHER one. Thompson hits an alley oop and Rozier makes a three. Cleveland takes a timeout.

Cavaliers 34, Celtics 18 - END 1Q:

James makes both free throws after a personal foul on Ojeleye, who comes out of the game. Brown misses a three for Boston, but Baynes gets the tip-in dunk. Nance Jr. is fouled by Morris, and makes one of two free throws. Nance Jr. then gets a steal, and is fouled by Smart. He makes one of two free throws. Korver makes a big block on Brown, and HIll sinks a three after the Korver rebound. Smart misses another three. Love gets his second personal, and Smart makes one of two free throws. Korver hits a jumper. Tatum misses, and Green gets his first points of the game with a two. Hill blocks a Brown jumper, and the Celtics in-bound with 23 seconds remaining. Brown misses ANOTHER driving dunk for the Celtics, and the first quarter comes to an end. Three missed dunks for the Celtics in the first quarter.

Cavaliers 23, Celtics 15 - 3:05 1Q:

James gets the free throw to make it three after the timeout. Thompson blocks a Smart jumper. James gets another fadeaway, Ojeleye sinks a three with an assist from Rozier. Love makes a jump bank shot, Rozier hits a pullup jumper, and Smart misses a three after a Thompson turnover. James gets a layup, Smart misses another three, and Boston takes a timeout.

Cavaliers 16, Celtics 10 - 5:38 1Q:

And we’re off! Boston gets the ball first, but Horford misses a layup. Love misses a three, then Rozier misses a jumper. Thompson has a shot blocked by Horford, misses the follow-up layup, and then gets the putback for the first points of the game. Morris gets the first points for Boston with a dunk, and also takes a shooting foul. Love makes both free throws after the foul. Love gets a foul on a block, and Horford makes both free throws. Smith misses a three for Cleveland. Morris hits a turnaround jumper, and Love misses one of his own.

James gets on the board with a fadeaway for two. Love has a turnover for a three-second violation. Brown hits a layup, Smith hits a three and Rozier sinks a jumper. Thompson gets a jumper of his own, and the scoring is ramping up! Both Brown and Rozier pick up personals. Smith misses a three. Love boxes out Morris and forces amiss, and Smith hits a three with the assist from James. James makes a jumper and gets the foul from Morris after a nearly disastrous turnover, as Tatum missed a big dunk. Cleveland finally takes a timeout.

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The Cleveland Cavaliers got back into the Eastern Conference Finals with a spirited performance on their home court on Saturday night, and on Monday will look for more of the same against the Boston Celtics in Game 4 (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

After dropping the first two games in Boston, the Cavs got off to a quick start in Game 3, building a 32-17 lead en route to a 30-point win.

LeBron James had 27 points on just 12 shots in the win and is averaging 28 points and 11 assists in the series. Cleveland’s role players also thrived, with Kyle Korver and J.R. Smith combining for 25 points in Game 3, including 7-for-8 from three-point range.

“The toughest team sets the rules,” Celtics guard Terry Rozier told the Associated Press on Saturday. “They came out aggressive from the jump and never looked back. We’ve got to play aggressive from the rip. Tonight, we were all over the place, playing too fast and doing things we didn’t want to do.”

The Celtics are undefeated at TD Garden this postseason, winning all nine games in Boston. But they are just 1-5 on the road, getting outscored by an average of 12.5 points away from home.

Cavaliers vs. Celtics Game 4 info

Location: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland

Game time: 8:30 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Announcers: Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, Doris Burke

Online streaming: Watch ESPN