Something was definitely smelling foul Thursday night at TD Garden. The Celtics were lethargic at the beginning, inept in the middle, and outclassed in the end. The Celtics had no response to LeBron James’s heroics and now they are relegated to a potential era-ending Game 7 Saturday.

And it’s a shame, too. Because from the early afternoon when traffic around the Garden resembled New Year’s Eve 1999, there was an anticipation for greatness, that Doc Rivers would lead this bunch of banged-up, aging warriors past the physically superior Heat and onto the NBA Finals.