LeBron James was in no mood to play down his own performance after a match-winning display for the Cleveland Cavaliers in game three against the Boston Celtics.

The Cavs had been trailing 2-0 in the NBA Eastern Conference finals ahead of their return to Cleveland, but James put up 27 points and 12 assists in a dominant 116-86 victory on Saturday.

It was James' passing that really caught the eye and, after running through three of his most impressive moves, he warned that none of them had been easy.

"They're all pretty difficult," he laughed. "Don't try it at home.

"I think my passing is up there with every other aspect of my game. It was something I kind of just knew I had when I first started playing the game of basketball, to be able to see things develop before they actually developed.

"Then it was on me to put the ball on time, on target to my team-mates ever since I was a kid, and I started playing at age 9."

And Cavs coach Tyronn Lue struggled to find the words to assess James' passing game.

"I don't even know," he said. "One thing about it is that he prides himself on [being] on time, on target, and when guys are open, he wants to make sure they have it right in their shooting pocket to get their shot off."

Kevin Love impressed, too, with a bounce pass to James standing out, but he was just happy to be able to link up with the in-form star.

"I don't know if it'll be a career highlight for him, but maybe it will be for me for the pass," he said after grabbing 14 rebounds and 13 points for a double-double.

"Bron, off the ball, he's always cutting and I'm always looking for them. I just tried to give him a little bit of love back because he had those 12 assists and a couple of them were to me. It was a great play."