NBA Finals: Cavaliers stun Warriors to win Game 4

Perfection has been denied. Emphatically.

Thanks to a historic performance, the Cleveland Cavaliers are still alive in the NBA Finals, avoiding the sweep and defeating the Golden State Warriors 137-116 in Game 4 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Friday night. It forces a Game 5 in the best-of-seven series and denies the Warriors -- who lead the series 3-1 -- the chance to become the first team in NBA history to go undefeated throughout the playoffs.

Cleveland put up numbers normally reserved for the NBA All-Star Game. The Cavaliers scored 49 points in the first quarter alone, the most in a quarter in NBA Finals history. They led at the 86-68 at the half, the highest scoring half in an NBA Finals game.

No team in NBA history has come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, and Cleveland will try to become the first. The Cavaliers made history a year ago when they won the title: Before they did it in 2016, no team had ever rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the NBA Finals.

Golden State became the first team in NBA playoff history to win its first 15 games in a single postseason. Additionally, the Warriors' 15 consecutive playoff wins are a postseason record in the four major professional team sports, breaking the mark set by the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins (14 in a row) from 1992-1993.

Game 5 is Monday at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Tipoff is scheduled for 9 pm ET.