INDEPENDENCE: Cavaliers coach Mike Brown knows it.

More important, however, his team knows that they cannot and will not make a second consecutive trip to the NBA Eastern Conference finals and beyond without being able to win on the road in a hostile environment such as TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.

The Cavaliers' next shot at winning on the road is tonight in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Boston Celtics are 6-0 in the playoffs on their home court. Home cookin' has been one of the constants in this year's dash to the NBA Finals. The Cavaliers, though, are one of two teams — the Detroit Pistons being the other — who have won a game on the road in the postseason.

''You have to. It just shows how strong you are as a team when you're able to go into a hostile environment

[with fans] and everything and stick together and come out of there with a win,'' Cavs guard Daniel Gibson said.

The Cavs came extremely close to stealing Game 1 at the Garden, a fact that could come back to haunt them. That loss happened for a number of reasons. Ultimately, it came down to several keys, Brown said.

''We can play better on the road,'' he said. ''One thing we have to do is take care of the basketball and we haven't done a good job of that. That's the biggest thing.

''The next thing is we can execute better offensively, especially when faced with a rowdy crowd, and make sure everybody's on the same page and executing the way we do at home. And defensively, play with the same intensity for as close to 48 minutes as possible as we have done at home.''

The home team has won all four games in the series, so the best way for the Cavs to advance would be to take Game 5 in Boston and close out the Celtics at home Friday at Quicken Loans Arena.

But the Cavs play differently on the road, especially when it comes to taking care of the basketball.

In the first two games of the series, the Cavs turned the ball over 33 times. In the past two, they've given it up just 17 times.

Gibson knows the key to winning on the road.

''Just when you go in you have to be focused, you have to know exactly what you want to do, know the game plan and execute. You can't have too many mistakes,'' he said. ''You have to play a really good game to win on the road.''

Another key will likely be the play of the Cavaliers' reserves, who played well Monday night, outscoring the Celtics' reserves 36-17. In Game 3 on Saturday, it was 29-22 in the Cavs' favor.

''I said all along our bench has been huge the last couple of games. Joe [Smith] and Boobie [Gibson] and Andy [Varejao] were huge last night and those contributions are going to be needed to win in Boston,'' guard Wally Szczerbiak said.

Familiarity could prove a valuable asset which makes the Cavs more comfortable, Szczerbiak said.

''I think so. I think we can take some positives from the way we played the first two games,'' he said. ''Hopefully we can put together 48 minutes instead of quarters where we play well.''

Feeling at home

Something happened on the way to Szczerbiak scoring 14 points and making several key shots in Game 4. The crowd spontaneously burst out into chants of ''Wally! Wally! Wally!'' After playing inconsistently in the opening series against the Washington Wizards, Szczerbiak might have found his stroke. In this series, he's averaging 14 points per game.

''I haven't heard a chant like that since my Minnesota days, so that was really nice, especially in the playoffs,'' he said. ''It really got me fired up and hopefully it helped the team get fired up. Like I said, our crowd is just phenomenal. We've just got to go down in a hostile environment, stay together as a team and try to get it done.''

Eye, eye

Point guard Delonte West left the game Tuesday with an irritated eye but was able to return. Doctors found no problem, and he'll be ready to go tonight in Boston.

Video: Game 5 Preview