The 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers have inspired a ‘3-1 down’ mentality in the NBA. Since that year, there have been a couple of playoff series featuring multiple 3-1 comebacks. The 2026 playoffs can push this mentality forward if the San Antonio Spurs can crawl back against the Knicks. But as inspiring as that sounds, Iman Shumpert, who was a part of the 2016 Cavaliers team, feels it would be unfair to hold the Spurs to a similar expectation.

“Going into Game 5 when you’re down 3-1, but you got Kyrie Irving and LeBron James, it’s a little different from what the Spurs got going on,” Shumpert said on The Pat McAfee Show. “I can’t factor in having Kyrie Irving and LeBron James. It’s really not fair, to tell you the truth.”

Well, the 2016 Cleveland team had both James, and Irving’s talents to bank on. The ‘next game matters’ mentality shaped the Cleveland Cavaliers’ historic fightback. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving made it possible. Their determination fueled epic performances. But beyond anything, the team showed mental fortitude. It is different with the Spurs.

The Spurs don’t have seasoned stars who can absorb such pressure.

They’ll count on Victor Wembanyama to deliver a dominant night. But the key to winning is to make the Knicks question their system.

So far, the Knicks’ head coach Mike Brown’s approach has helped New York attain blind confidence. They can go down 29 and still win. It’s a mental edge that the Knicks will carry for the rest of the series. And that’s the wall the Spurs need to break past.

“It’s a back-to-the-wall game that has to happen. They are at home, so it could happen. Just, you have to play it one game at a time, though. You can’t look at it as if it’s so far away,” Shumpert said about the advice he would give the San Antonio Spurs.  

Interestingly, ESPN believes the Spurs have a probability of 56.8% of winning Game 5 against New York.

Similarly, Dimers’ simulations calculated that the Spurs have a 69% chance of winning their next game.

The San Antonio Spurs still have a sliver of a chance

It’s tough for the Spurs to look back at this series. The team has led by double-digits in all three of their losses in this series. The New York Knicks deserve all the applause for staying level-headed in these situations. It’s actually a reflection of what the Spurs need to look like moving forward.

What the Spurs need is full engagement from start to finish, for three straight games. There can’t be another moment where Wembanyama throws the ball to Castle’s back, or De’Aaron Fox tries to score with ten seconds on the clock. Those lapses have put the Spurs here. Otherwise, had they closed games well, the series could have looked different.

The good thing, however, is the locker room hasn’t lost belief.

The Game 4 loss hurt, but Victor Wembanyama assured fans that the team isn’t defeated.

“We either got it, or we don’t. We’ve proven that we can surpass these difficulties. And even though we haven’t been there before, I’m convinced we’re built this way. We’re going to use the better of this, and it’s going to tighten us up,” Wemby said about the Spurs.

The team is open to accountability and is still fighting to win this series.

In hindsight, the Spurs could potentially have a closeout game at home if they win the next two. Two out of three home games is a better situation than the Cavaliers. But San Antonio needs to start small, by winning their first home game of the series and then taking it from there. Given that the Spurs have led in every game, a comeback is possible. But it will require sustained focus and mental resilience.