Now a best-of-three

The East Finals has become a take-two-of-three affair — which is to say anything can happen. The Celtics have depth and discipline. The Cavaliers have experience and, more importantly, LeBron James.

As expected, the East Finals is tied at two after four games. Yesterday, the Cavaliers again stamped their class at the Q to record their seventh straight home victory. Not a few quarters thought to write their epitaph after they were blown off the court in Games One and Two, and with reason. They didn’t just fall to the supposedly inferior Celtics; they fell hard, their relative lack of effort exposed in the face of determination, resolve, and outstanding leadership from the sidelines. The flipside, of course, is that they’ve been there and done that, and they subsequently put their experience on full display to even the best- of- seven affair.

Certainly, the Cavaliers’ confidence never wavered even after they were down and supposedly out. In large measure, it’s because they knew — as they have always known — that having LeBron James on their side allows them to recalibrate their center and adjust accordingly. With the all- time great never better even on his 15th season, they understand that it takes much more than an early flurry of blows to knock them out, and that, in the final analysis, they simply need to be true to themselves to compete.

That said, the Celtics have plenty to fuel their own fire. Thei r setback yesterday notwithstanding, they can take solace in the fact that they actually won the last three quarters. After looking primed for another embarrassing defeat that mimicked Game Three’s, they scrapped and clawed their way back to respectability. A few more fortunate bounces and whistles here and here, and they may well have turned their short runs in the final canto into a monumental turnaround.

In any case, Game Five figures to be a humdinger. True, the National Basketball Association finally turned in a conference finals that featured a single- digit difference between protagonists, but only after the Celtics picked up a garbage- time bucket off a deliberate shot- clock violation by the Cavaliers. Nonetheless, there can be no underestimating the impact of the development, especially on Brad Stevens’ charges. And for all their missteps, they continue to possess homecourt advantage in the series, a significant factor in their favor; not for nothing have they remained unbeaten at The Garden so far in the 2018 Playoffs.

For all intents, the East Finals has become a take-two-of-three affair — which is to say anything can happen. The Celtics have depth and discipline. The Cavaliers have experience and, more importantly, James. No wonder hoops followers are pursing their

lips in anticipation.