So it should come as little surprise that, with the Spurs down 3-1 in their playoff series against Dallas and dangling from the precipice of their earliest ouster in nine years, Duncan doesn't plan to go easy into that dark offseason.

He just wouldn't know what to do with himself.

"We put ourselves in this hole," said Duncan, the Spurs captain. "We've either got to stand up and win these games, or we go home. We have to face reality."

Reality is not so much fun for the Spurs heading into tonight's win-or-go-to-Canc?n Game 5 at the AT&T Center.

They are worn down. They are beat up. They are up against an opponent that seems to have them outmanned, especially with Manu Ginobili watching from the sidelines. In short, the Spurs appear to be in dire need of the vacation they are so desperately fighting to delay.

They hope it comes later, rather than sooner.

"I don't think there's a lot of quit in us," Duncan said. "We're going to fight it to the end, and do everything we can to extend this series."

In Duncan's 12 seasons, the Spurs have failed to make it out of the first round just once. That came in 2000 against Phoenix, a series Duncan watched from the sidelines with an injured knee.

Only eight teams in NBA history have rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win a playoff series. Only two have done it this decade.

The most recent comeback kids were the Phoenix Suns, who recovered to stun the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round in 2006.

It is against this backdrop - and against long odds - that the Spurs take the floor for what they hope to be the first of three must-win games.

"We know what's at stake," swingman Ime Udoka said. "Maybe we can make something special out of the series now."

All time, the Spurs are 0-7 in series after starting behind 3-1. Contained within one of those failures, however, is a kernel of proof that it can be done.

The Spurs were in the same hole against these same Mavericks in the 2006 Western Conference semifinals, and rallied to force a Game 7 that they eventually lost in overtime. If not for Ginobili's ill-timed foul on Dirk Nowtizki in the final seconds of regulation, the Spurs might already be the ninth team to beat a 3-1 deficit.

"There are still a lot of faces here that remember that," Duncan said.

There are some faces in Dallas that remember, too. Even those who weren't around three years ago seem to have picked it up via osmosis.

"It's dangerous to get ahead of yourself," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "A 3-1 lead is great to have, but it's no guarantee."

Winning three in a row against Dallas will be difficult. Even when the Spurs play well, the Mavericks seem to find a way to outscore them.

Dallas set the Spurs up for the knockout blow with a 99-90 victory in Game 4 that, in some ways, defies explanation.

Tony Parker set a career postseason high with 43 points, Duncan had 25 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and the Spurs held the Mavericks to 38.4 percent shooting - all of which usually portends a Spurs victory.

When analyzing what went wrong, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich focuses on two sets of numbers. The Spurs made 6 of 23 3-pointers; Dallas made 10 of 25. The Spurs made 22 of 34 foul shots; Dallas made 33 of 39.

The Spurs need the shots to fall tonight. And they're confident that they will.

"We believe in our team," Parker said. "If not, we can start going on vacation right now."

To Duncan, who has built a career around short summers, that doesn't sound like a good option at all.