NBA Finals 2017: Cavs' Game 4 win shows near impossibility of winning series against Warriors

"Whenever anyone says, "All you have to do is" the next thing they say is always something impossible."

The above is a truth communicated by comedian Chris Rock while narrating "Everybody Hates Chris," the now defunct sitcom loosely based on his childhood. In the episode, young Chris must make Thanksgiving Day macaroni and cheese without, well, macaroni and cheese. His boss at the corner store he worked at told him, "You don't need macaroni and cheese to make macaroni and cheese. All you got to do is..."

NBA FINALS: Did the refs decide the outcome in Game 4?

Given all it took for them to prevail against the Warriors to fight off elimination in their Game 4 win Friday night, the Cavaliers are faced with a challenge nearly as improbable as they attempt to become the first team in postseason history to overcome a 3-0 series deficit. It might not take an all-time great effort for Cleveland to prevail against a Golden State squad which had won each of its previous 15 games this postseason and hadn't lost since April 10. However, considering what they had to pull off in order to pull out a win Friday, it'll likely require a gargantuan output for Cleveland to close the series 3-2 and earn a shot to tie it at three games apiece.

All they had to do was... score a NBA Finals-record 49 points in a quarter, the way they did during the first 12 minutes Friday to build an early 16-point lead.

All they had to do was... set a playoffs and finals record with 86 points at the half and 115, another finals mark, through three quarters. Boston scored 79 in a half against the Lakers in the 1985 Finals. Dallas scored 83 in a half in the playoffs against Sacramento in 2003.

All they had to do was... put up 137 points, the most ever scored by a team facing elimination and the third most in finals history. It was the highest point total in the finals since the Lakers scored 141 in Game 2 against the Celtics 20 years ago.

BENDER: This 3-1 Warriors lead isn't the same as last year's

All they had to do was... hit 13 3-pointers in the first half and 24 for the game, both finals bests. Cleveland shot 53.3 percent from behind the arc for the game.

All they had to do was... tie the franchise-record for most points scored by a trio in a playoff game with Kyrie Irving (40), LeBron James (31) and Kevin Love (23) combining for 94.

All they had to do was... limit Stephen Curry, a two-time MVP who'd been averaging 28.6 points per game in three finals contests prior to Game 4 to 13 points. It was Curry's worst scoring output in these playoffs. He went 4 of 13 from the field (30.8 percent), and 2 of 9 from 3-point range (22.9 percent), also lows for this postseason.

Get the picture?