Cavs coach defends James’ poor performance in Game 3.

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — LeBron James was nowhere to be seen, staying behind the scenes, keeping a low profile. Just as he did in Game 3. James did not address the media Monday, hours after one of the worst postseason games of his career, an 11-point, six-turnover, head-scratching atrocity in a 111-108 loss to the Boston Celtics that — for the time being — has made the Eastern Conference finals interesting.

As is always the case with Cleveland’s superstar, the poor performance prompted the usual speculation and suspicion: Is he hurt? Was he sending a message to his teammates?

“It was a weird game,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “A weirdfeeling game.”

And it was an uncharacteristically passive performance by James, who had scored at least 30 in eight straight playoff games and imposed his will on the overmatched Celtics in the series’ first two games.

But James wasn’t himself Sunday night. He passed up shots and made mental and physical mistakes.

It was strange to see James basically look like one of Cleveland’s reserves. He took just three shots and didn’t attempt a free throw in the fourth quarter.

James accepted responsibility, saying simply “I didn’t have it” during a postgame news conference that was preceded by a run-in with a heckling fan in the hallway.

Cavs forward J.R. Smith said his celebrated teammate lacked confidence.

“He’s got to be aggressive, get downhill, play like he’s been playing, play confident,” Smith said. “That’s what I always think, when people of his stature or people like him, you’ve got to play confident the whole night and play aggressive. It’s the Eastern Conference finals. It’s not enough for him. For what he does, what he brings, it’s not enough ... Just expect him to be better in Game 4.”

The series resumes Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena before returning to Boston on Thursday for a Game 5 that didn’t appear necessary until the Celtics stormed back from 21 down and won when Avery Bradley’s 3-pointer danced on the rim before falling with 0.01 seconds left.

As Lue spoke to a large group of reporters and some Cavs players got in extra shots following practice, James was noticeably absent from the floor. Usually, he hangs around to work on his game, but on this day No. 23 wasn’t visible.

Lue said James was “in good spirits” and that no one was pinning the loss on him.

“No blame. We’re all to blame,” Lue said. “We lost; it happens. For a guy who played great for five straight months, he’s got to have a bad game sooner or later. He’s human. He didn’t shoot the ball well. It wasn’t his ordinary game. But Kevin [Love] and Kyrie [Irving] had it going early and they played well, so it kind of got him out of rhythm a little bit in that first half.

“That’s no excuse. They played well, but we’ve just got to play better, be more physical.”