The Cavaliers evened their best-of-seven NBA Eastern Conference semifinals with the Celtics at two games apiece after pinning Boston with its fifth road loss of these playoffs, 88-77, tonight at Quicken Loans Arena.

LeBron James led the Cavs with 21 points, 13 assists, 6 rebounds and a windmill dunk that electrified the sellout crowd of 20,562 and gave the Cavs a commanding 84-75 lead with 3:18 remaining.

Wally Szczerbiak and Daniel Gibson chipped in 14 points apiece for the Cavs.

Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo all scored 15 points apiece to lead the Celtics, who will return to TD Banknorth Garden to host Game 5 Wednesday night.

Here is the schedule/results for the second-round playoff series between the first-seeded Celtics and the No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers:

Remaining schedule:

Game 5 (Boston): Wednesday, May 14, time TBA -- TNT
Game 6 (Cleveland): Friday, May 16, time TBA -- ESPN, CSN
Game 7* (Boston): Sunday, May 18, time TBA

Series results:

Game 1: Celtics 76, Cavaliers 72
Game 2: Celtics 89, Cavaliers 73
Game 3: Cavaliers 108, Celtics 84
Game 4: Cavaliers 88, Celtics 77

* If necessary

Despite some heated perimeter shooting from Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, who combined to score 18 points (9 apiece) in the third quarter, the Cavaliers, who were led by Wally Szczerbiak's opportunistic play, controlled a 68-65 lead at the end of the third quarter at Quicken Loans Arena.

Szczerbiak also had 9 points in the third, giving him 14 for the game.

The Cavaliers, looking to even their best-of-seven NBA Eastern Conference semifinals against the Celtics at two games apiece, took a 45-43 halftime lead in Game 4 at Quicken Loans Arena.

LeBron James led the Cavaliers, who hit 43 percent of their field goals (17 of 39), by scoring 12 points on 4-for-10 shooting.

Kevin Garnett, meanwhile, led the Celtics, who converted 39.5 percent of their shots (15 of 38), by scoring 13 points on 3-for-8 shooting to go along with 4 rebounds.

Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo combined for 12 points on 5-for-14 shooting from the field (2 for 2 from the 3-point arc, both by Allen).

After trailing by as many as 8 points (41-33) with 4:02 remaining, the Celtics rallied to tie it, 41-41, when P.J. Brown tallied on an open baseline jumper with 1:18. After Zydrunas Ilgauskas made it 43-41 with his third-chance offensive putback, Allen stuck a tying jumper to make it, 43-43, with 7.2 seconds left.

Daniel Gibson, however, induced Rondo to commit his first personal and went to the line with 3.5 seconds left for a pair of foul shots that enabled the Cavs to control a 45-43 halftime lead.

OK, Delonte West is finally back. The former Celtic returned to the floor with 4:41 remaining in the second quarter. West missed nearly 13 minutes of action.

But Paul Pierce incited the crowd when he tied up Lebron James on a transition break. Both players stumbled into the crowd along the baseline, near where James's mother, Gloria, was seated.

Momma James was none too pleased with Pierce and let the Celtic know, in no uncertain terms, how she felt, wagging her finger at Pierce. Wally Szczerbiak walked over and high-fived Gloria James. Lebron, though, told his Mom to take her seat and to be quiet.

With 2:50 remaining, the Cavs lead by 4, 41-37.

Delonte West, who was a catalyst in Cleveland's 108-84 victory in Game 3, returned to the game with about 7 1/2 minutes remaining before halftime.

West, who tallied 4 points in the first quarter, reported to the scorer's table but did not enter the game.

Delonte West departed the game with 5:19 left in the first quarter, retreated to the locker room, and has yet to return to the bench as of the second quarter with 8:01 remaining.

Unlike the first quarter of Game 3's 108-84 debacle, the visiting Celtics seemed to make it alive out of the period in Game 4, trailing by just 2 points, 23-21.

It represented a 17-point difference (improvement?) over the 19-point deficit (32-13) the Celtics faced in Game 3.

Kevin Garnett led the way for Boston in the first with 9 points on 4-for-4 shooting and 5 rebounds, while Rajon Rondo added 6 points on 3-for-7 shooting.

LeBron James (2 for 7 from the field; 2 for 4 from the line) led the Cavaliers with 6 first-quarter points.

CLEVELAND -- We sought out Ben Wallace before Game 4 to inquire whether he had any issue with the pyrotechnics that were used during the Celtics' pregame introductions. Evidently, smoke from the fireworks, in combination with a viral inner left ear infection, left Wallace feeling dizzy and light-headed before Game 2 at TD Banknorth Garden, forcing him out with 8:20 remaining in the first quarter.

Although he had been listed as doubtful, Wallace came back and started Game 3, but he was absent from the bench during the pregame introductions at Quicken Loans Center, in which fireworks shoot from the top of the scoreboard over center court and fire shoots out of four sabres.

Wallace, though, took no issue with the fireworks displays at the Garden, saying, ``Pyrotechnics are a part of the game; it don't bother me. I'm good.''

Speaking to reporters before Game 4, NBA commissioner David Stern expressed his disdain for such pregame practices.

``I'm going to get in trouble for this, OK? I think they're ridiculous,'' Stern said. ``I think that the noise, the fire, the smoke, is a kind of assault that we should seriously consider reviewing in whether it's really necessary given the quality of our game.

``It may be that these are the manaical rantings of a fan from a different era,'' Stern added, ``but I'm sitting there waiting for the next cannon to go off and then the fire heats up the arena and raises the temperature by 15 degrees -- and that's if you can see it because you're always waiting for the smoke, which is chemical, to clear, which is invariably done by the end of the half.

``But I always bite my tongue because I say, `Well, maybe I'm not the demographic that likes to be assaulted by loud rap, smoke, pyrotechnics and chemicals.' I guess it makes me outdated, but I think it's time for us to say, `Hey, guys, let's look at it one more time.' ''

So it's safe to say the commish doesn't have any loud rap on his iPod?

``That's right,'' he said. ``How do you spell Simon and Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, or Billy Joel. I'm lost. But that's OK. I appreciate there's new age music, hip-hop. It's fine, but the reality is I think what's happened is some very well-intentioned people feel it's their obligation to root their team on to victory, to urge them, and they do it by turning up the loudspeaker in the building, even though there are babies in the building.

``I think it's going to be interesting. I think we should have it as a time capsule item, because in some future center people are going to look at it and say, `What were they thinking?'

Celtics guard Ray Allen isn't making any distinctions. The Celtics are 0-4 on the road this postseason, but Allen isn't seeing any major reason for the difference.

"I just buy into the fact that it’s important to win now whether it’s at home or on the road," Allen said today. "I don’t buy into all the later and all that stuff. I think each game is a different piece of its own and attack each game that way. Obviously, at home you feel more comfortable. But you can’t just rest on that. You have to do it at home, too. Statistically, we don’t have to. But we have to be better.”

With a win tonight in Game 4, the Celtics can silence their critics and go home for a potential clincher in Game 5. With a loss, the critics will grow louder.

“You can’t go in thinking you’re going to be protected by the home court," Allen said. "You will have good teams that will come in and give you a decent challenge in your home building. So in any event, you have to prove that you can win somewhere outside of home… We’ve been pretty good at home all year, but you can’t just rely on that.

“There was a sense of calm in the locker room (after Game 3). Everybody knew. We didn’t have to beat each other up. We knew what it was and what we needed to do.”

Comcast SportsNet’s Boston Celtics telecasts have been honored with the Emmy Award for Sporting Event/Game-Live/Unedited by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Boston/New England Chapter.

Mike Gorman and Tommy Heinsohn are in their 27th season as the voices of the Celtics. The 2008 Emmy win is the fourth for Comcast SportsNet’s Boston Celtics telecasts, which took home the Play-by-Play Emmy in 1997, 1999 and 2002.

CLEVELAND --- Cavaliers coach Mike Brown reported after today's morning shootaround at Quicken Loans Arena that Anderson Varejao would be ready to go for Game 4 tonight in this best-of-seven NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Boston Celtics.

Varejao, a 6-foot-10-inch burly Brazilian forward, was listed as questionable after sustaining a right knee contusion in the first half of Cleveland's 108-84 romp in Game 3 here Saturday night.

"He did not have any problems doing everything and anything we did in the shootaround," Brown reported this morning.

Asked if that meant Varejao was going to run out onto the floor as a stand-in for starting power forward Ben Wallace, as he did before Game 3's player introductions when Wallace was listed as doubtful because of an viral inner left ear infection, Brown smiled and laughed.

"I don't know. However they want to do it," Brown replied. "But Ben's starting tonight."

The Celtics have failed to win a game on the road this postseason. After their latest failure, a 108-84 loss to the Cavaliers here in Cleveland in Game 3 on Saturday night, the Celtics had a very intense practice for close to an hour today.

By the sweaty jerseys, it was evident the players had put some work in scrimmaging. Guard Ray Allen said it was the most intense practice the team has had since before the playoffs.

Prior to practice, the Celtics only watched the first quarter of their Game 3 blowout loss. Guard Rajon Rondo, who has been struggling offensively, also shot for about an hour after practice.

Forward Paul Pierce said he is confident the Celtics will win tomorrow's Game 4 because of the hard practice they had today. He said the key is tough defense.

How focused is coach Doc Rivers? He didn't know that ex-Suns head man Mike D'Antoni got the Knicks coaching job until I mentioned it to him after practice. Rivers said he thought D'Antoni going to Chicago was a done deal.

An NBA source close to the situation told The Boston Globe today that Phoenix Suns coach Mike D'Antoni has accepted the New York Knicks head coaching job.

Despite having two years and $8.5 million on his deal with the Suns, D'Antoni was given permission by the team to interview for openings with the Knicks and the Chicago Bulls.

D'Antoni has a career record of 267-172 after coaching Phoenix for four seasons and Denver in one.

Cavaliers coach Mike Brown believes center Ben Wallace (allergies and dizziness) may miss tonight's Game 3 against the Celtics.

It's no secret the Celtics went 0-3 on the road in their first round series against Atlanta (it may be a secret to Cavs coach Mike Brown, who seemed puzzled by the home-road question by my colleague Julian Benbow in his press conference). But everyone knows the Celtics have yet to win a playoff game on the road.

They'll try to change that Saturday night in Cleveland.

“We talked in the locker room after the game," said Celtics forward Kevin Garnett. "And the mindset is one [game] at a time. We want to focus on trying to get this first win in Cleveland. We talked about some of the things that worked tonight, obviously ball movement, rebounding, communication, and then our defense obviously has to be there. We are going into a hostile building and we know that they play really well at home, they have a lot of confidence at home, and they play with tremendous energy at home. Easier said than done, but some way some how we have to carry this energy over and take one game at a time.”

Ray Allen didn't score in Game 1. He didn't score in the first half of Game 2. But he scored 16 points in the second half tonight, and his contributions were key in putting away the Cavs.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said he ran four or five plays for Allen coming out of halftime.

"I thought he had good looks in the first half and he kept passing it out," said Rivers. "The first three possessions to start to the game he had a look. He is making the right passes, which is what we want him to do. If they are going to jump out at him like that our bigs can get layups...I told the coaches at halftime we’re going to him over and over again, we’ve got to get him going."

Allen said after the game that he doesn't let shooting slumps get to him.

"I don’t let it get in my head," he said. "I don’t let people talk about whether I’m in a slump or not -- you just miss. You could miss four in a row, then you could make four in a row. That is my mentality, to always continue to put that next shot up.”

That's two games in a row. Two games where LeBron James has not been LeBron James. Two games in which one of the league's brightest stars has combined to shoot 8 for 42.

"I’m just missing the shots that I normally make," said James. "They haven’t fallen in this building the last two games. The layups that usually go down for me are just jumping out of the rim. The jumpers that I usually make are not going down for me. So I’m going to stay positive and get my way through.”

Celtics forward Leon Powe described part of the strategy for containing James tonight.

"You expect him to make some shots," said Powe. "But we still have our defensive principles that we have to stick by. And that is not let him get into the paint, by any means necessary. If that means that if all the “bigs” have to pull over, and keep all eyes on him, that’s what we have to do. We try not to let him get into the paint, and get going like that. If he hits some jumpers, so be it.”

Paul Pierce has the primary duty of guarding James, but he credited his teammates for making it difficult for the superstar.

"It's not me, it’s everybody," said Pierce. "It’s mostly the big guys who are stepping up, showing the help. When you got guys who are 6 foot 10 inches, 7 feet tall, putting their arms out, showing on the pick and rolls, crowding him on traps, it makes it tough for him. It puts him in a position to where he has to start forcing things and that is what we try to do. It is total team defense."

Cavaliers forward Ben Wallace left the game in the first quarter with what the team described as dizziness. He did not return.

"I got light headed," said Wallace. "My head started spinning. There was smoke in the first quarter -- you cant play basketball with your head spinning like that.”

Wallace said he would be evaluated tomorrow morning. Cavs coach Mike Brown said he missed his big man.

"Ben is a starter for us," said Brown. "He has played big in the playoffs so far, so to lose him in playoffs is tough. But that's not what the problem was here tonight.”

Some questioned whether the Celtics had much to do with LeBron James’s poor shooting in Game 1.

There’s no question now.

The Celtics hounded James all night in an 89-73 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series tonight at the TD Banknorth Garden. The Celtics lead the series, 2-0.

It’s hard to identify a key play in a blowout, but if there was one it surely came with 7:42 left in the second quarter, when Celtics forward James Posey stripped James and took it the other way for a dunk. It sent a message to James that nothing would come easy, and the superstar never recovered from it.

The Celtics had a miserable first quarter, allowing Zydrunas Ilgauskas 10 points on what were mostly wide-open jumpers. Cleveland led by eight after one.

If the first quarter was a tragedy, the second was a triumph for the C’s. Boston outscored the Cavaliers 27-12 in the second, holding Cleveland to 11 percent shooting in the period. James was 0 for 5 in the second.

From there it was smooth sailing, as the Celtics outscored Cleveland 26-15 in the third quarter to put the game away.

Posey was spectacular on defense for Boston, something his 7 points and 6 rebounds don’t indicate on the stat sheet. If there is a series MVP so far, it would have to be him.

The Celtics were led by Kevin Garnett (13 points, 12 rebounds) and Paul Pierce (19 points, 6 rebounds) on offense. After going scoreless for the first three halves of basketball in this series, Ray Allen dropped in 16 points in the second half of Game 2.

James had 21 points but was just 6 of 24 from the field with 7 turnovers. Like he did during Cleveland’s last series in Washington, King James heard chants of “Overrated” from the crowd.

Delonte West had just three points for the Cavs.

The Celtics take a 2-0 series lead with them to Cleveland, where they’ll face the Cavaliers in Game 3 on Saturday night.

We’ll have plenty of postgame reaction from the Garden, so keep it here.