For more than 45 minutes, the Boston Celtics stood toe-to-toe with the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was the final product of David Griffin’s masterpiece against the byproduct of Danny Ainge’s rebuild. 

Evan Turner hit a three with 2:45 left to pull the Celtics to within 95-92 in a game that saw the Cavaliers build an 11-point second half lead. Kyrie Irving missed a runner on the ensuing possession, but Boston couldn’t grab the rebound and Tristan Thompson corralled a danger of an offensive rebound to give his team another chance.

Thompson then found Irving, who located Kevin Love for one of his six made threes to give Cleveland a six-point edge. Two possessions later, Thompson struck again, rebounding a LeBron James' miss, which led to James finding Love in the corner yet again for another three.

The Cavs had just 10 second-chance points all night, but those six in the final moments decided the game.

After a season’s worth of criticism, Love delivered for the Cavaliers when they needed his shooting to help put away the Celtics. Thanks to his clutch shooting, the Cavaliers defeated the Celtics 103-95 to take a 3-0 lead in their first-round series.

“We’re a threat like that. A lot of guys getting to the basket, once the guys started sliding in and drifting into the middle … making good passes too and getting our shots off,” J.R. Smith said of Cleveland’s offense.

Cleveland finished Thursday’s game 12-for-29 from three, but went 7-for-15 in the second half. Love was 6-for-10 from deep en route to 23 points and nine rebounds, the best performance of his brief playoff career.

“People have focused my whole career on what I couldn’t do versus what I could do,” Love said, “and I know my teammates and coaches have my back.” 

Brad Stevens questioned his team’s poise after the loss, but commended their effort. The second-year coach took offense to his club’s nine second-half turnovers, which gifted the supremely talented Cavaliers 11 points. The Celtics also seemed to be the aggressors prior to a few shoving matches, which the more-seasoned Cavaliers took in stride.

“Love’s three off of Thompson’s rebound late -- those are killers. And we haven’t been very timely in finishing plays in those regards the whole series,” Stevens said.

“Tonight, obviously, we were just trying to get over the hump, over the hump. We played poorly at the end of the second half, that really hurt us, and just dug ourselves too big of a hole. You know, sometimes as a coach you overanalyze it.” 

Stevens pulled the right strings coming out of halftime, sending out Jonas Jerebko and Crowder in place of Brandon Bass and Marcus Smart. The change spurred an 8-0 run to tie the game at 56 apiece. Boston’s run came after Cleveland finished the second quarter on a 12-0 spurt.

From then on, anytime the Celtics delivered a punch the Cavaliers responded. Irving didn’t hit a field goal until the third quarter, but Cleveland’s star trio of James, Irving and Love combined for 35 points, six assists, five steals, four rebounds, two blocks and just three turnovers in the second half. 

In the playoffs, especially early on, talent trumps all.

When asked what separates the two teams after a third-straight loss, Stevens took the rehearsed route of praising Cleveland for their experience and playmaking. He then allowed, “Obviously, No. 23 is one reason.”

This Cavaliers-Celtics series isn’t just a No. 2 seed versus a No. 7 seed; it’s a contrast in roster construction. Ainge covets what Griffin has, which is a roster complete with enough talent to move the needle in the right direction in a close, competitive game.

“We’ve got to win one more before we talk about differences,” David Blatt said after getting a win just a few miles from his hometown of Framingham. “Boston’s going to fight and they’re not going away.”

Competing and fighting is nice, winning is ever better.

“You hope you learn from this experience tonight,” Stevens reflected. “We’re got a lot of guys doing this for the first time, and I thought in some ways that, again, we played with tremendous energy, we played with great spirit, but we just didn’t make good, sound basketball plays most of the night.”

If Stevens and the Celtics had some stars, or maybe even just an All-Star, they would be get some of the clutch plays LeBron and Co. have made from their own. For now, they’ll have to settle for almost good enough.