So, here we go. After 11 days, six games, and thousands of erroneous predictions and definitive statements (the Celtics are too old, the Heat always choke), we are down to one game for the right to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.

Led by LeBron James’s 45 points, the ever-maligned, hateable Miami Heat stood tall and decimated the gritty Celtics Thursday night, thrashing Boston’s proud Green Team, 98-79, on the parquet floor of TD Garden. Perhaps the most ridiculed great player in the history of sports, James made 19 of 26 floor shots and added 15 rebounds. It was a performance worthy of Wilt Chamberlain or Michael Jordan.