BOSTON — The Celtics don’t just have a chance to end a series Friday night in Cleveland. They have a chance to end an era.


 


The LeBron James era of dominance in the Eastern Conference is on the brink following the Cavaliers' 96-83 loss at TD Garden Wednesday night, when a seemingly fatigued James lumbered through a two-point fourth quarter before punching his own ticket to the bench with three minutes left in an 18-point game. [...]

SCOTT SOUZA The MetroWest Daily News

BOSTON — The Celtics don’t just have a chance to end a series Friday night in Cleveland. They have a chance to end an era.

 

The LeBron James era of dominance in the Eastern Conference is on the brink following the Cavaliers' 96-83 loss at TD Garden Wednesday night, when a seemingly fatigued James lumbered through a two-point fourth quarter before punching his own ticket to the bench with three minutes left in an 18-point game.

 

Boston’s 10th straight home victory to start the playoffs put the Celtics up, 3-2, in the series and one win away from ending a run of James making it to the NBA Finals seven straight years.

 

That is the history the Celtics will be looking to defy in Game 6 as a squad without its two injured All-Stars looks to prove that the sum of its young, aggressive, relentless, team-oriented parts is enough to overcome the single greatest player of a generation.

 

“You’ve got a group like this that has been through a lot of ups and downs,” Celtics third-year guard Terry Rozier said following the Game 5 triumph. “We’re one game away from our ultimate goal. We don’t want to think ahead. But we have a special opportunity. A lot of the guys might not get this opportunity again.

 

“We’ve got to understand that. So, we’ve got to come out fighting and compete like hell.”

 

While much of the focus nationally Friday will be on James as he looks to bounce back from a tortured trip to Boston in what may be the impending free agent’s final home game in his native Northeast Ohio, the Celtics must keep the focus on themselves. Success could depend on Boston drawing on what they have done to go undefeated on the parquet in the playoffs, and learn how to avoid the pitfalls leading to their paltry 1-6 record on the road this postseason.

 

“The deal is you can't ride the emotional roller coaster,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said in a Thursday conference call. “You can't live or die with every loss or win. You just move on and you get ready for the next one, and you play it as well as you can. I think one of the strengths of this team has been moving on.

 

“We're going to have to move on from [Wednesday] night's win — play better than we have — to have a chance to win Game 6.”

 

While the Cavaliers wilted late in each of the games in Boston, the Celtics did show some fight in cutting a 19-point gap to seven in the fourth quarter of Game 4 in Cleveland. Boston then built its own 19-point lead Wednesday in the first half of Game 5 and never let the Cavaliers closer than 12 in the fourth quarter despite only shooting 31.8 percent in the quarter and 36.5 percent for the game.

 

“The fun thing for us is that we played well,” Celtics center Aron Baynes said on the night he moved back into the starting lineup. “But there is still so much room for improvement on both ends. That’s what’s good for us.”

 

Stevens credited the transition defense — the Celtics outscored the Cavaliers, 18-2, on fast-break points in Game 5 — for the victory, adding on the conference call that it is more important to him than orchestrating any particular one-on-one defensive matchup against James in the halfcourt.

 

The coach talked about finishing better at the rim, not trying to “hit home runs” with plays that lead to the Cavaliers going the other way with pace and maintaining focus on the defensive end.

 

Doing all those things, Stevens said, will give the Celtics a chance to win Game 6.

 

A chance to go to the NBA Finals. A chance to dethrone a King in the East. A chance to stake a claim to the present and the future of the conference in the championship series instead of allowing the past to linger on through another June.

 

“It’s going to take everything that we have,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said. “The lesson we can learn is that you have to go out there and play. Exactly how we came out and played on our home court [in Game 5], you’ve got to expect them to do it there.

 

“You can’t be [caught by] any surprises. You have to be ready.”