Cavaliers governor makes big statement amid 3-1 hole

To Gilbert's point, one of the factors working in the Cavs' favor is that two of the remaining three games will be on their home court. In comparison, the 2016 team had to travel to Oakland for Game 5 and Game 7 to pull off a miraculous 4-3 series win. 

Furthermore, recent history suggests a 3-1 deficit isn't insurmountable in the earlier rounds. Of the 13 teams that've overcome the hole, nine did so in the 21st century — the Nuggets did it twice in the 2020 Orlando Bubble, the 2016 Warriors and the 2015 Rockets also clawed back from the hole. That's not including the 2016 Finals.

The question beckons: Do the Cavaliers believe? After Sunday's embarrassing loss, Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson looked shell-shocked and didn't exactly exude his governor's confidence.

"They raised their game to another level, and we didn't match it," he lamented. "We talked about it, and we knew it was coming. I don't know. You try to prepare for these things mentally, and for whatever reason, they were at another level. Their force was greater in every sense."

Like Gilbert, Atkinson took solace in his team playing two more home games. The Cavs were 34-7 at home in the regular season. Yet, he acknowledged his team was staring down the barrel of elimination. 

If the Cavaliers fail to make at least the conference finals, they'll join the 2015-16 Spurs as the only 64-win team with a points differential above 9.0 (9.54) to crash out so early in the playoffs. Such an outcome would further tarnish the integrity of the NBA's regular season, rendering the 82-game slate meaningless.