The Celtics’ Kevin Garnett is surrounded by, from left, Delonte West, Anderson Varejao, Daniel Gibson and Joe Smith after coming up with a loose ball in the fourth quarter.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

CLEVELAND — With five minutes to play last night, the Boston Celtics seemed in perfect position to end their baffling road woes in these NBA playoffs.

The Celtics trailed by only three points and were making one tough defensive stop after another. With just a bit of an offensive spark, they seemed set to drive a big nail through the hearts of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“We had them where we wanted them,” said Celtic reserve big man P.J. Brown.

What the Celtics didn’t have, however, was James. Cleveland’s only franchise player stood up with the game on the line while Boston’s trio of stars came up empty. James hit a huge 3-pointer, passed off to Daniel Gibson for another trey and then slammed home a monster jam that sent the Celtics home 88-77 losers last night at Quicken Loans Arena.

The Celtics have now dropped all five road games they’ve had in the playoffs. This series is tied 2-2 with a crucial Game Five set for tomorrow back in Boston.

“That was the play that we needed as a team,” James said of the dunk. “We haven’t had a play like that all series. Our crowd hadn’t seen a play like that. Our fans deserved it, our team deserved it. It was great that I was able to give it to them.”

James still didn’t shoot well (7-for-20) but he did outplay everyone else with 21 points, 13 assists and 6 rebounds. Asked after the game about James’ shooting woes, Boston coach Doc Rivers shook his head.

“You guys only look at shooting percentage. He’s not struggling. He’s playing a total game and making plays for his team,” Rivers said.

The same can’t be said for Boston’s leaders. Kevin Garnett finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds but he only attempted five shots in the second half. Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo also finished with 15 and Paul Pierce had 13. Allen and Pierce shot a combined 10-for-27 and the Celtics shot 38 percent as a team.

The ugliest stretch of the game came late in the fourth quarter. Boston managed just 12 points in the fourth and was outscored, 12-4, over the final 6:29. The blame was spread around. Trailing 76-73, the Celts’ Sam Cassell (0-of-5) missed a jumper, Garnett missed in the lane, Pierce missed a driving layup and Garnett clanked a wide open baseline jumper.

The Cavs had seen enough at that point as James shook free of Pierce and nailed a wing 3-pointer to make it 79-73. Pierce drove the lane for a hoop to stop his team’s skid but then Daniel Gibson took a feed from James and swished a 3-pointer to open a 82-75 lead.

Pierce and Allen then both missed 3-point shots. That set up James to come off a Joe Smith screen and cruise past Pierce and James Posey and throw down his thunder jam in front of Garnett for a commanding 84-75 lead with just 1:45 left.

“We have to play better under stress,” said Rivers, who called his team’s fourth-quarter shot selection into question. “I call them ‘hero’ shots. I thought we took a lot of those instead of just stressing what we do.”

The Celtics’ locker room was filled with long faces. The players clearly knew a great chance had slipped away.

“I think they did what they wanted to down the stretch and we didn’t get it done,” said Allen. “They hit some big threes that were daggers.”

The Celtics have been plagued by horrid starts to games in their playoff road tilts but they avoided those issues last night. The Celts certainly weren’t good in the first half but they battled the Cavs tough and trailed by only 23-21 after one and 45-43 at the half.

The third quarter was the cleanest period of the series. Both teams ran their offenses crisply with Wally Szczerbiak (14 points), Rondo and Allen all catching fire with their shooting and scoring nine points apiece. The score was tied five times and there were 10 lead changes with Cleveland wrapping up the quarter with hoops by Joe Smith and Anderson Varajao to take a 68-65 lead into the fourth quarter.

Rivers chose to send out a lineup with a heavy bench presence to begin the fourth. Pierce teamed with Cassell, Brown, Posey and Glen Davis. Brown canned a corner jumper to make it a one-point game but Big Baby Davis took an ill-advised jumper that clanked and then fouled a driving James. Garnett and Allen were back in at the 7:26 mark with Cleveland ahead, 76-71. But the Celtics’ stars could not match James in closing out the game with the biggest plays of the night.

kmcnamar@projo.com