The Knicks’ season comes to an end, and Game 1 will haunt them for a while

INDIANAPOLIS — The memory will be seared into minds for a while. Maybe forever.

The ball clanking off the back of the rim and shooting straight into the air and out of view. Then, miraculously, falling back down gracefully, dropping through the net with precision and erasing a lead that felt impossible to overcome.

The New York Knicks’ season ended Saturday night in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, but it’s Game 1 that’ll be hard to forget. New York had a chance to open its first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 25 years in dominant fashion. The Knicks led the Indiana Pacers by 14 with 2:51 left to play. No team had ever lost with that margin, with that little time. New York did in overtime.

The Knicks started the series down 0-2, a feat that feels insurmountable at this stage in the season. However, like this team did time and time again, it made things interesting, winning in comeback fashion in Game 3 in Indiana and then putting a beatdown on the Pacers inside Madison Square Garden in Game 5. However, the team’s magic ran out, and the tank reached empty in Game 6, as the Pacers’ fast-paced, in-your-face style was too much.

The Knicks were supposed to be the team going into Game 6 with a 3-2 lead. Not Indiana. A collapse of epic proportions shifted the rhythm of the series and, in turn, played a part in ending their season.

“Starting off 0-2, it’s going to be tough for everybody,” Mikal Bridges said. “It was tough.”

It’s hard to get back to this point. The health New York had this season isn’t guaranteed. The magic it had in the postseason isn’t necessarily repeatable. As fans have learned over the last 25 years, who knows the next time you’ll get a chance to be in this position. New York has the talent to get back here, but this still feels like a missed opportunity.

The Knicks could have rectified their Game 1 debacle in Game 6, but the Pacers were too good, and the Knicks were uncharacteristically bad. New York, a low-turnover team during the regular season, coughed up the ball 17 times. The defense that was bumpy all season was bumpy throughout 48 minutes.

Saturday’s season-ending loss was the Knicks in a nutshell. The team rarely followed up perfection with perfection. New York struggled to put together two near-flawless games in a row. Its defense wasn’t anywhere near as threatening as it was in Game 5, and the turnovers didn’t help.

New York trailed by just four at halftime. Then, in the third quarter, the Pacers’ constant pressure was too much. New York lost the third period, 34-23. That was the ball game.

“They got into the open floor, and that was a problem,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It was hard to make up the ground.”

New York’s season, despite falling short of the finals, should be seen as a success. The franchise progressed from last year’s ending. It reached heights it hadn’t in 25 years. It took down the defending champions in the second round when no one thought the Knicks had a chance. Jalen Brunson proved again that he is more than good enough to lead a team to higher places. Karl-Anthony Towns dominated throughout the playoffs, and another year of this duo should help New York contend again.

The Knicks got this far, and they were put together one day before the season started. That’s not nothing. A season that endured ups and downs culminated in a special postseason run that’ll be remembered fondly after Saturday’s heartache goes away.

This was the first year of this specific group. The first time it played together. The first time it went through challenges together. That bodes well for the future, assuming this core, which never fully jelled on the court, stays together.

“It’s definitely tough to look ahead,” Brunson said. “Even when you win, it’s always about what’s next. Regardless, we’re going to go in the summer and work. We’re going to get better and figure out how we can change this outcome.

“It’s going to start with us and our mentality, making sure we take it one day at a time. We can’t just jump back into the conference finals. We can’t look ahead. I got a lot of faith in this group. No one sees what me and (Towns) see every day, the type of people that we have, the workers that we have. That’s what gives me the confidence.”

The Knicks will be OK. The talent is too rich, and the mindset, led by Brunson, always seems just right. However, this felt like a missed opportunity. Game 1 will be talked about for a long time.

It was another haunting memory for a franchise that felt like it was on the doorstep of ridding itself of all the ghosts from the not-so-distant past.

(Top photo of Jalen Brunson: Trevor Ruszkowski / Imagn Images)