Watching the NBA Finals­ between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, the words of John Greenleaf Whittier come to mind — “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’ ’’ Whittier died in 1892, the year after James Naismith invented basketball, but his words ring true for the pinnacle of the sport.

This should be a real series, a fun, frenetic, riveting, dramatic playoff series between two hoops heavyweights with the victor in doubt. There is a minuscule chance it still can be if Cleveland makes a serious run at becoming the first team in 127 tries to rally from 3-0 down in NBA history, but it feels like the hour has grown too late for the LeBrons. They waited too long to make a stand for themselves and for the competitive honor of the NBA, which has been battered like a piñata this postseason.

The Cavaliers gave us a glimpse of what this series could have been with their 137-116 victory on Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena, staving off elimination and forcing Game 5 Monday night in Oakland, Calif. Instead of rolling over so Kevin Durant could get his ring, the Cavaliers put on a record-setting performance, scoring an NBA Finals-record 86 points in the first half and drilling a Finals record 24 3-pointers.

This series should be going back to the Bay Area­ tied at two games apiece. It would be if Cleveland hadn’t collapsed in the final 3 minutes and 9 seconds of Game 3, surrendering a 6-point lead, missing its final eight shots, and getting outscored, 11-0. If that were the case, then we wouldn’t have to listen to all this tedious palaver about how the NBA has a competition crisis, how Durant selfishly sabotaged the league by joining the Warriors, and how the entire playoffs have been an exercise in formality. No one is pushing those story lines if the series is tied, 2-2. The discussion surrounding the third straight Finals meeting between the Cavaliers and the Warriors has overlooked the excellence and brilliance displayed on the court, especially from Durant, in favor­ of bemoaning the current competitive state of professional basketball.

LeBron James and the Cavaliers saved their season and the NBA’s reputation. They Defended the Land and the product, preventing Golden State from becoming the first team to blitz through the playoffs a perfect 16-0 en route to the title. They spared the league further mocking and continued rants about superteams. Cleveland gets credit for that. But the Cavaliers perpetuated and exacerbated the NBA’s image problem with double-digit losses in the first two games and by falling behind, 3-0.

Giving a poor account of themselves, the Cavaliers reinforced all the negative narratives about how pointless the playoffs were with Durant a Warrior.

Despite what James implied after Game 3, his team has the firepower to push the Warriors. The Finals shouldn’t be a fait accompli. The NBA has the competitive balance of a first-time ice skater. But it’s not a one-team league.

Friday, Cleveland finally got a game where all three members of its Big Three delivered on the same night, and its supporting cast contributed to the cause instead of being basketball bystanders. James had yet another Finals triple-double, Kyrie Irving dropped 40 points and drilled seven 3-pointers, and Kevin Love awoke from his Finals shooting slumber with 23 points and six threes. The Cavaliers had shot just 29.8 percent from the arc in the first three games of the series.

“We understand who they have on their team and what they’re about and how established they are, but I think that in those three losses we lost track of who we were at the time,’’ said Irving. “We’re still a special team as well. We are here for a reason. We’re going against a juggernaut of a team, but we’re a juggernaut of a team, too. We have some special pieces.’’

The Cavaliers rallied from a 3-1 deficit last year to defeat the Warriors after getting routed in the first two games in Oakland. They face overwhelming odds against an encore. If the LeBrons come back to win this series it would be like the Patriots’ Super Bowl LI comeback on performance-enhancers.

This is a different Warriors team with Durant, who has been the best player in the series, averaging 34.3 points per game. The biggest shot of the series is Durant’s 26-foot 3-pointer with 45 seconds left in Game 3 that put the Warriors up for good and paved the way for an 118-113 victory. Perhaps, there will be more appreciation for the difference-making play of Durant in this series now that a sweep has been averted.

Like many basketball fans who just want the Cavs-Warriors trilogy to live up to its hype, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue is still ruing what could have been if Cleveland had held on in Game 3, instead­ of letting the game — and likely the series — slip away.

“This is who we are. We’re a tough, resilient team. We know we were down, 3-0, but we thought we gave a game away in Game 3,’’ said Lue. “So we knew this team was beatable. We knew we can play better, and this is the result you get when we play at our best.’’

While we finally saw the Cavaliers’ best, it can’t go unmentioned that we saw the worst of NBA officiating in Game 4.

Mike Callahan, John Goble, and Marc Davis reinforced all the unfortunate stereotypes folks have about their field with a dubiously reassigned­/corrected technical foul that voided Draymond Green’s apparent ejection in the third quarter and inconsistent interpretations of the flagrant foul rules. When NBA officiating goes bad it combines the thin skin and haughty self-importance of a home plate umpire with the confounding capriciousness of an NFL official.

There is a fine line between getting it right and being wrong. This series has been cast as an example of everything that’s wrong with the NBA, but it’s so close to being right what we hoped Cavaliers-Warriors III would be.

The Warriors’ loss in Game 4 was a win for the NBA. It was also a reminder of what might have been.

Christopher L. Gasper can be reached at cgasper@globe.com.