The Celtics have been near perfect at home during these playoffs, but getting things right on the road continues to be a problem.

There were three losses in as many games in Atlanta and then a defeat in Cleveland on Saturday after two wins over the Cavaliers in Boston.

"Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes," said Paul Pierce. "Basketball is all about learning from your past mistakes. We fumbled a few games down in Atlanta, so we're going to look at that and see what we can do better. But the main part about playing on the road is we've got to bring a lot more energy to the game from the start.

"The energy that we've had on the road is high, but it's not high enough," he added. "And in the playoffs you've got to take it to another level if you're going to get those wins. Those wins are hard to come by in the playoffs. So hopefully we can bring our energy up, maintain our poise, not turn the ball over, and take the crowd out of the game. Those are the keys I feel like to winning on the road. Thus far in the playoffs we haven't been able to do that."

The issues are even more critical in Cleveland.

"The mindset is one at a time," said Kevin Garnett. "We want to focus on trying to get (a) win in Cleveland. We are going into a hostile building and we know that they play really well at home, they have a lot of confidence at home, and they play with tremendous energy at home. So easier said than done, but some way, somehow we have to carry (the) energy over to the road."

CAVALIERS 108, CELTICS 84: The Celtics fell behind early and never truly threatened in Game 3 of their conference semifinal series Saturday night. As a result, their series lead was cut to 2-1.

The Cavaliers ran out to a 19-point lead in the first quarter and kept getting big shots whenever the Celtics looked as if they were thinking about making a run.

After shooting 8 for 42 in the first two games, LeBron James was still not on top of his offensive game -- he made 5 of 16 shots on the way to 21 points. But Joe Smith had a big 17 points off the bench, and Delonte West tied for game-high with 21.

"Cleveland came out and played harder," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "They just in every way beat us."

The Celtics weren't nearly aggressive enough, as evidenced by the fact they attempted just two free throws in the first half.

"You have to be aggressive -- especially on the road -- and we just weren't," said Paul Pierce.

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