Knicks NBA Cup semis matchup with Magic laying groundwork for burgeoning rivalry

LAS VEGAS — Rivalries usually don’t form in just the regular season — heated playoff matchups are typically needed for that.But this feels like what could be the start of a budding rivalry. The Knicks’ NBA Cup semifinal matchup against the Magic on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena will already be the fourth meeting between the two teams just 25 games into the season.

The Knicks won the latest of the three matchups and can even the series at 2-2 with a win Saturday, though this one would be sweeter given the elimination stakes.The Knicks and Magic sit in second and fourth in the Eastern Conference, respectively, separated by 2 ½ games. “They definitely know who we are,” coach Mike Brown said after Knicks practice Friday, “and we know who they are.” Magic star Paolo Banchero added, “It’s a team that we’ve played three times already.

They are familiar with us.We’re familiar with them.” But it’s more than just the familiarity or the unusual amount of meetings so early in the year that have made this a contentious clash.

It’s how those games have been played that has laid the groundwork for a rivalry. The Magic pride themselves on their physicality, and they punked the Knicks in the first two matchups before the Knicks better handled it in the most recent meeting.There have been injuries that caused players to miss time in all three previous meetings: Jalen Brunson and Paolo Banchero in the first, Landry Shamet in the second and Miles McBride and Franz Wagner in the third. “Yeah, they are really physical,” Brunson said.

“That’s what Coach [Jamahl Mosley] prides himself on.The way that they have been able to do it makes them very successful.

…They are going to be who they are, and they are going to come out here and compete.And so I think for us, we have to be ready to do what we’ve got to do and combat that.” “One through 15, that’s our goal,” Desmond Bane said.

“To be the most physical team on both ends of the ...