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The defending champion Celtics will fight on, but it’s impossible to ignore that everything’s changed

COMMENTARY

Suddenly here we are, longing for those innocent times when we thought the worst-case scenario for the Celtics meant falling behind the Knicks, three games to one.

Turns out there is a far crueler fate than blowing a double-digit lead in an eventual loss for the third time in this series, as the Celtics happened to do in the Knicks’ 121-113 victory in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinals series Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

After blowing 20-point leads in Games 1 and 2 at TD Garden, the Celtics followed with a that’s-more-like-it 115-93 victory in Game 3 at MSG before putting their championship defense on the brink by squandering a 14-point third quarter lead in Game 4.