Now, it's a best-of-three series.
So, how did LeBron James and the Cavaliers get there?
They were ahead in games, 2-1, and then they played Sunday as if winning and advancing were a foregone outcome. They underestimated the resolve of the Celtics, an aging team with a storied history - a history that wouldn't allow Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo or anybody else in kelly green not to persevere.
And persevere the Celtics did Sunday in Boston, putting more energy into winning than James and the Cavaliers did. Theirs was an utterly carelessness and unkempt performance, a performance so sloppy that it didn't befit a team with claims of contending for an NBA title.
Titles aren't won with displays like the Cavs produced on the road. At times, they kicked the basketball around as if on the pitch of World Cup venue. The James Gang played the sort of loose defense that would anger the coach of a bad middle-school team.
None of it pleased coach Mike Brown. Looking ahead to Game 5, he is still waiting for somebody to slow Rondo, who is playing with the temerity of a great Celtic from an earlier era. Brown sounded puzzled that Rondo grabbed 18 rebounds.
Eighteen rebounds for a smallish point guard like Rondo? How does that happen? How can it happen?
OK, Rondo's been unstoppable in this series; he'll likely be so until this series ends. Let that be understood. But Brown's Cavaliers might still have eked out a victory Sunday had they done a decent job of handling Tony Allen.
Tony who?
