The playoffs are different. The intensity is different. The stakes are different. The Garden is different.
And as the regular season comes to an end against the Hornets on Sunday, the Knicks wear the look of a dangerous team ready and willing — TBD if they are able — to embrace the great expectations of James Dolan’s NBA Finals-or-Bust mandate … and of bloodthirsty, championship-starved Knicks fans.
The Knicks served up a delicious appetizer for the upcoming main course and captured the No. 3 seed with a 112-95 beatdown of the Raptors on Friday night, keeping their feet on the gas following their Thursday win over the hated Celtics.
This time it was Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns showing what the Knicks can be when they are Double Trouble, Batman and Robin, Clyde and Willis.
