History shows it's possible Cavaliers and Celtics can bounce back

1993: Phoenix Suns over Los Angeles Lakers (3-2)

Charles Barkley won the MVP Award and the Suns won 62 games, but they dropped their first two home games in the first round to the Sedale Threatt-led 39-43 Lakers. They won the next two games on the road, struggling against the Lakers' "Twin Towers" of Vlade Divac and Elden Campbell, then needed a last-second Dan Majerle jumper to force overtime in Game 5, barely overcoming Hall of Famer James Worthy's 24 points in his final playoff game.

The Suns would go on to make the NBA Finals, where they'd again open the series with two home losses. That didn't fly against Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls, who won the series in six games, closing things out on Phoenix's home court.

1994: Houston Rockets over Phoenix Suns

Barkley and the Suns were on the other side one year later in their second-round series against the Houston Rockets. Phoenix took the first two games in Houston, then lost Game 3 to Vernon Maxwell's 34-point explosion, lost Game 4 as Kenny Smith scored 21 points and lost Game 5 to Otis Thorpe's 20 points and 13 rebounds.

MVP Hakeem Olajuwon put up 37 points and 17 rebounds in Houston's Game 7 win, blocking 19 shots in their four victories. Houston also got great bench performances from then-rookie and current Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell. The Rockets would go on to win the first of their back-to-back NBA titles a few weeks later.

2005: Dallas Mavericks over Houston Rockets

Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady took the first two games in Dallas to take a big lead, but Dirk Nowitzki, Jerry Stackhouse and Jason Terry helped the Mavericks win the next three games in the series by a combined 11 points. The next two games were blowouts: Houston took Game 2 at home by 18 points, then Dallas won Game 7 by a then-record 40 points, 116-76.

2017: Boston Celtics over Chicago Bulls

Former Celtics guard Rajon Rondo tormented his old team in the first round as a member of a strange 2017 Chicago Bulls team that featured Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade and current Knicks backup guard Cameron Payne. Rondo had 20 assists and seven steals in the two victories in Boston, but fractured his thumb in Game 2 and missed the rest of the series. The Celtics, who had Al Horford and Jaylen Brown from this year's team, won the next four straight rather handily. Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg was so shaken that he abruptly stormed out of the news conference after Game 5.

Boston would win all their home games in a 4-3 series win over the Washington Wizards in the second round before losing to the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals.

2021: Los Angeles Clippers over Dallas Mavericks

This one comes with an asterisk because restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic meant that home crowds were limited to below capacity, though much lower in Los Angeles (42 percent) than Dallas (93 percent). Perhaps that's why neither team could win a home game until Game 7, with Dallas winning the first two games in L.A., the Clippers returning the favor in Texas and both teams trading road wins before the Clippers took Game 7, 126-111.

In hindsight, the Mavericks should have given more minutes in that series to the reigning Clutch Player of the Year, Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks, who doesn't want to blow a 2-0 road lead for the second time in his career.