CLEVELAND: There was no mission- accomplished banner deployed, but the Cavaliers did what they absolutely had to do in their playoff series with the Boston Celtics on Monday.

They've shortened it.

The Cavs and Celtics will now play best-of-three following another superior defensive performance by the Cavs in front of their home crowd. Stopping the Celtics down the stretch and getting just enough big plays from LeBron James, the Cavs wrestled away an 88-77 win to even the series at 2-2.

There have been several constants in the series, but none more important to the Cavs' season than their rugged defense. Once again focusing on stopping the Celtics' strengths and making them rely on their weaknesses, the Cavs kept it low scoring and tight and allowed their playmaker to bring them to the finish.

''We took care of homecourt. That is what we needed to do,'' James said.

James had 21 points on a still subpar 7-of-20 shooting but he made plays all over the court. He had 13 assists, tying his high from this postseason, with six rebounds and some tremendous plays in the final minutes. None was more important or therapeutic than a thunderous windmill dunk over Kevin Garnett with 1:45 left that cemented the win.

The Celtics managed to shoot just 39 percent. They were just 5-of-16 for a mere 12 points in the fourth quarter.

''We've been able to cover for each other, flying around and contest at the same time,'' James said. ''It's been amazing.''

Every Cav who played was part of the effort but some more than others. James was tremendous on Paul Pierce, who went just 6-of-17 from the field for an ineffective 13 points. Anderson Varejao played perhaps his finest game of the season. He scored 12 points and had six rebounds, both huge factors as the Cavs pulled away late, but that was not nearly his story.

Varejao bodied up to Garnett for most of the second half, using his size and athleticism to knock him out of his
comfort zone — and he was able to do it without needing double teams, which has been key. Unable to set up on the post and unable to get free much on the outside, Garnett went just 1-of-7 shooting in the second half and had only two rebounds after he had 13 points and eight rebounds in the first half.

The Cavs brought help to defend Pierce, Garnett and Ray Allen (who had 15 points on 4-of-10 shooting) and let Rajon Rondo and Sam Cassell try to beat them. Rondo scored 15 points but he needed 14 shots to get there and Cassell was 0-of-5 from the floor.

''We're not going to stop those guys, but the one thing we want our guys to do is make them work as hard as we can for their shots,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said. ''If we do, then we've done our job.''

In the fourth, as the Cavs went through a dry spell at the offensive end, the Celtics were unable to make up any ground because time after time they couldn't get a clean shot or an easy rebound.

Joe Smith, who had eight points and six rebounds, was responsible for much of that, as he won battles for loose balls.

James' complementary pieces on offense were not as effective as Game 3's blowout, but they came up big when they needed to. Daniel Gibson had 14 points and a playoff-career-high six rebounds as he often rushed from the perimeter to assist in battling the Celtics' big men. He also went back to his classic role of hitting big shots, nailing two 3-pointers in the deciding fourth.

Wally Szczerbiak continued his run of providing offense, hitting six of his first nine shots on the way to 14 points. Combined that with Varejao, who made 6-of-8 shots, and the Celtics were punished just enough for continuing to hone in on James at all costs.

''We held down homecourt, they held down homecourt,'' James said. ''The better team has to win on the road to win the series.''