UPDATED: 1:14 a.m.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Late at night when the demons come, whether it is just during the summer or perhaps for years beyond, they will be of what happened Tuesday night.

Whenever a playoff series is tied 2-2, Game 5 automatically earns the tag "pivotal." But that isn't accurate for what the Cavaliers faced in their Game 5 against the Boston Celtics. It wasn't just pivotal for the series, it may indeed end up being pivotal for the entire franchise.

The Cavs lost, 120-88, to fall down 3-2 in the series as it shifts back to Boston, where the soaring and slick-executing Celtics will try to slam the door on another Cleveland title bid on Thursday. In the wreck that remained of the Cavaliers, however, that seemed but a trivial detail.

No, the series isn't over. But it would be hard to build a case of anything otherwise after the performance the home team gave. Even if that was what the Cavs reverted to in the wake of defeat.

"There was little that we did right," Cavs coach Mike Brown said. "We can't dismiss this game, but we have to get ready for Game 6. We'll learn a lot about ourselves in Game 6."

All the lessons from the Game 5 experience, however, were ominous.

Once again, the Cavs faced a game in which they were not only expected to play with energy and focus but also like a team that had won 127 regular-season games over the last two years and were the No. 1 seed in the NBA playoffs. But once again they played like a team not sure of its place or the stakes.

Once again that included LeBron James, the Most Valuable Player who has become the Most Variable Player in a matter of days. His mysterious elbow injury could explain his flat jumper that plagued him for most of Game 5. Injuries and poor games happens to the greatest.

For the third time in the series, James was a shell of himself -- limping to just 15 points on 3-of-14 shooting. That will be a line in the historical box score, but it won't be the story.

With a stiff resolve, James declined to blame the elbow or anything else for the below-standard performances.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself to go out be great and the best player on the court," James said. "When I'm not, I feel bad for myself because I'm not going out there and doing the things I know I can do. But I don't hang my head low and make excuses, because that is not the type of player or the type of person I am."

But the was no missing the malaise and broken-looking spirit that hung on James' face and body language during the game. He could offer no insight other that he was battling expectation as much as the Celtics.

"I spoil a lot of people with my play," James said. "When you have three bad games in a seven-year career, it is easy to point that out."

There was a horde of New York-based media in town to document what some thought could be James' last home game as a Cavalier. With the dire situation in the series -- 66 percent of teams who drop Game 5 in a tied series also lose the series -- and James headed for free agency with a whimper, that reality was coursing through the veins of the tense and tepid sellout.

James attempted to brush that feeling off as well as he could.

"I didn't even think about it, me sitting up here and saying it could me our last game," James said. "It wouldn't be me, it wouldn't be our team."

Not to be overlooked was the Celtics' role in the slow death. They have pretty much outplayed the Cavs in four of the five games played so far. That peaked Tuesday when they got tremendous games out of no fewer than five players, a feat in a road playoff game that was breathtaking in its own right.

They undercut everything Cavs coach Mike Brown tried as a countermeasure to the disaster that was happening on the floor. Defensive switches were ineffective. Lineup changes made no difference. Whatever happened in timeouts and in the locker room at halftime could not be called anything but failures.

It deteriorated into the Cavs having to foul poor Celtics free-throw shooters with five minutes left just to attempt to get the Boston lead under 20 points. It was a white-flag measure undertaken by a desperate team.

Ray Allen sent jumpers splashing into the basket over whomever the Cavs put on him, but mostly it was Mo Williams, who also probably had his lowest moment as a Cav. Rajon Rondo was scoreless in the first half but feasted when Williams was switched over to defend him when Allen was done with the tormenting. The Celtics' point guard ended with 16 points and seven assists.

Paul Pierce broke out of his slump in a big way by playing like James usually does, contributing and creating all night. He had 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Kevin Garnett continued to look like his knee was 100 percent, lobbing shots over Antawn Jamison for 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting.

Glen Davis came off the bench and vanquished the Cavs' defense with 15 points, showing more energy than anyone wearing white.

The only Cav who seemed to get the value of the game was Shaquille O'Neal, who never quit playing and was aggressive from the start. He had 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting. But it was so too little, too late that it was stunning.

The Cavs allowed 55 percent shooting and 23 second-chance points, relics of their poor effort carrying over to another game. In the end, they were booed off the floor.

"We played awful," James said. "They had every right to boo us. They have seen us at the highest level, they have seen us at the lowest level."