BOSTON — This time there was no Game 5 magic for LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
James finished with a respectable 35 points, but had only two over the first 14 minutes of the second half as the Boston Celtics rallied from a big first-half deficit and won 96-89 Wednesday night at TD Banknorth Garden.
The Celtics, who are 42-6 at home this season, including
7-0 in the playoffs, lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series 3-2, meaning Cleveland will be in a must-win situation when it hosts Game 6 Friday at 8 p.m.
“We’ve got to go back to Cleveland, lace ’em up and be ready to rock and roll for 48 minutes,” Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said.
The Cavaliers nearly staged a dramatic rally in the final two minutes, twice stealing the ball in the backcourt and scoring to get within 91-87 with 45.5 seconds left.
Cleveland would have had a chance to get even closer, but it failed to grab a long defensive rebound — Ray Allen leaped high to keep it alive for Boston — and Paul Pierce ended up hitting a pair of free throws to put the Celtics up six with 15.6 seconds to go.
Moments later, any possible Game 5 magic had vanished for James and the Cavaliers.
In the same situation against Detroit a year ago in the Eastern Conference finals, James scored a franchise playoff-record 48 points and added nine rebounds and seven assists to lead the Cavaliers to a thrilling 109-107 double-overtime victory.
The small forward scored 29 of Cleveland’s last 30 points, including the final 25 in an unbelievable display.
This time, he didn’t hit a long, fadeaway 3-pointer while falling into the bench. This time, he didn’t single-handedly carry the Cavaliers to a win.
This time, he didn’t quite match the 41.7 points he had averaged in three prior Game 5 situations where the Cavaliers had been tied 2-2 in a series.
To say this loss was James’ fault, however, would be wrong.
The Cavaliers turned the ball over 16 times, leading to 17 Boston points. Most of the miscues came late in the second quarter and early in the third, helping the Celtics go from 14 down to 12 up.
The Cavaliers quit playing defense with a commanding 43-29 lead and just 3:30 to go in the second quarter.
They missed free throws, going just 28-of-41 at the line (Anderson Varejao was 2-of-6).
They had just 11 assists on the night.
They even lost Daniel “Boobie” Gibson to a bruised left shoulder early in the fourth quarter, leaving his status for Game 6 in doubt.
Most of all, they lost their poise and focus, especially at the defensive end.
“There was a stretch in the second half where our defense was really bad,” said Brown, noting the Celtics scored on nine of 11 possessions. “It’s going to be tough to win if we give up that kind of run on the road.”
Delonte West was solid for the Cavaliers, finishing with 21 points, but Cleveland got nothing from Zydrunas Ilgauskas (six points on 2-of-5 shooting), largely because he almost never touched the ball.
James, who was 20-of-78 from the field in the series coming into the game, finished a respectable 12-of-25, but he was just 4 of his last 13 shots. He also had only three rebounds and five assists and committed four turnovers.
Some credit must also go to the Celtics, who got stellar performances from All-Stars Pierce (29 points) and Kevin Garnett (26 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, three blocks). The real killer, though, was second-year point guard Rajon Rondo, who exploded for 20 points and 13 assists.
“The biggest difference for those guys was Rondo,” Brown said.
When Rondo wasn’t killing the Cavaliers, they were busy shooting themselves in the foot.
Cleveland came out in the third period and picked up where it had left off in the second quarter, committing turnovers on its first three possessions as Boston scored four quick points to complete an 18-3 run and go up 47-46.
“That set the tone for the Celtics,” Brown said. “That set the tone for the crowd. It was a tough go from there.”
The Celtics, who had 29 points with 3½ minutes to go in the first half, suddenly caught fire and scored 42 points in 14½ minutes to go up 71-59 with 1:03 to go in the third period.
James, who missed his first three shots of the second half, finally got his first points of the third period with less than a minute to play, but the damage had already been done.
Boston made 12 of 16 shots in the third period while outscoring the Cavaliers 29-17, giving the Celtics a 72-63 lead heading into the final 12 minutes.
“They got aggressive with us,” Brown said. “We did not handle the ball as well in the second half after they turned up the aggression.”
The Cavaliers never trailed in the first half, but they should have been up more than 46-43 at intermission.
After Allen scored five points in a 7-0 spurt that pulled the Celtics within 35-29, James came back in the game and went on an 8-0 run all by himself to give the Cavaliers their biggest lead, 43-29, with 3:50 left in the second quarter.
In a span of just 1:45, James scored on a drive, made four free throws and hit a 22-footer to give him 23 points — or just six fewer than the Celtics had as a team.
The Cavaliers made some costly turnovers at that point, allowing Boston to score 10 straight points, including a pair of 3-pointers by Rondo, who was so wide open he had time to say a prayer before shooting.
By the time the half ended, the Cavaliers were up just three instead of by double figures, largely because Boston scored 14 points in the final 3:30.
“We had a lead and I thought we were playing good basketball,” Brown said. “We were poised.”
Then it got away quickly, meaning a terrific first-half performance by James went largely to waste.
The 6-foot-8, 250-pounder got it going from the start, making a 21-footer from the top of the key at the 10:41 mark of the first period and a 20-foot fadeaway from the right corner 27 seconds later.
With the Celtics starting the game 4-of-18 from the field, James had outscored them by himself at the 2:46 mark of the first period, pouring in 11 points as the Cavaliers went up 18-9.
Boston got within five at the end of the period, but James got right back to it in the second period before the Cavaliers struggled to end the half.
“Whether we get 35 (points) or 20 (from James), it doesn’t matter,” Brown said. “To lose a game the way we played in the third period, we didn’t do the things that were necessary defensively.”
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

Celtics 96, Cavaliers 89

CLEVELAND (89): James 12-25 11-13 35, Wallace 2-2 0-0 4, Ilgauskas 2-5 2-2 6, West 5-12 10-13 21, Szczerbiak 3-8 2-3 10, Varejao 1-3 2-6 4, Smith 3-5 1-4 7, Gibson 1-4 0-0 2, Pavlovic 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-65 28-41 89.
BOSTON (96): Pierce 8-19 11-13 29, Garnett 12-19 2-2 26, Perkins 0-2 1-2 1, Rondo 9-15 0-0 20, R.Allen 4-11 2-2 11, Posey 1-4 0-0 2, Powe 0-0 0-0 0, P.Brown 0-1 1-2 1, Cassell 0-2 0-0 0, House 0-0 0-0 0, Davis 3-4 0-2 6. Totals 37-77 17-23 96.

Cleveland                              23  23  17  26       —    89                            
Boston                                    18  25  29  24       —    96

3-Point Goals— Cleveland 3-16 (Szczerbiak 2-6, West 1-3, Gibson 0-2, James 0-5), Boston 5-15 (Rondo 2-3, Pierce 2-5, R.Allen 1-4, Cassell 0-1, Posey 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds— Cleveland 48 (Varejao, Ilgauskas 7), Boston 47 (Garnett 16). Assists— Cleveland 11 (James 5), Boston 25 (Rondo 13). Total Fouls— Cleveland 18, Boston 27. Technicals— Boston defensive three second. A—18,624 (18,624).

NEXT UP

WHO: Boston at Cleveland
WHAT: Game 6, Celtics lead series, 3-2
WHEN: Friday, 8 p.m.
WHERE: The Q
TV/RADIO: Channel 43, FSN Ohio, ESPN; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

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