So much has changed for the Knicks in the past calendar year.
Expectations have risen.
The makeup of the roster underwent a drastic makeover.
There has been criticism of what this team should or should not look like.
Despite it all, coach Tom Thibodeau’s team finds itself almost back where it has been the previous two years: the Eastern Conference semifinals.
A win Tuesday night at what will almost certainly be a raucous Madison Square Garden, and the Knicks will advance in the postseason for the third consecutive season and likely get a crack at the defending champion Celtics.
Prior to the arrival of Thibodeau and Jalen Brunson, that hadn’t happened since 1998-2000.
During that stretch, the 1999 Eastern Conference finals against the Pacers was also the last time the Knicks clinched a playoff series on the Garden floor.
They had the chance to do so a year ago, but blew a late lead to the 76ers and wound up closing it out on the road in Philadelphia.
If the first four games of this fascinating series is any indication, closing out the Pistons won’t be easy.
Detroit could easily be up 3-1 instead of down by that margin.
Each contest has been up for grabs in the final quarter, and the Knicks have been the better team each time, even in the Game 2 loss.
Altogether, they have outscored Detroit by 21 points in the final stanza, and Brunson has outplayed young Pistons star Cade Cunningham.
That was no more apparent than in Game 4, when Brunson shook off a right ankle injury to score 15 fourth-quarter points while Cunningham faded in crunch time.
“He’s gonna take us to the promised land,” Mikal Bridges said of the Knicks captain. “At the end of the game and that fourth quarter, he’s gonna make those shots, make big plays. Just who he’s always been.”
It is ironic how this series has played out, that the Knicks have rallied from significant fourth-quarter deficits in two of their wins, and held off a furious Pistons rally in the other one.
There has been so much talk throughout the season about what the Knicks were missing, that they lost so much of their grit, tenacity and toughness in the offseason when they brought in Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns and lost Isaiah Hartenstein, Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.
But they have shown plenty of fortitude in the clutch against Detroit.
As much as last year’s team was romanticized for their resilience, they didn’t get out of the second round.
This team can reach that point with one more win.
“Mental toughness to me is the belief you can always do things better. I know we have a mentally tough team and we understand it’s a big part of winning,” Thibodeau said. “I think when you look at playoffs a lot of times you see there’s a lot of one-possession games, and you don’t know what possession is going to be the difference.
“That’s why every possession does matter and you should fight to win every possession. And so, you get a couple stops in a row and you get a hustle play. And the next thing you know you are on a run. You have to have the belief and the toughness, but I also think the discipline has to be a priority for everybody.”
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