Knicks lessons from Pacers collapses are front of mind with chance to set tone in East finals return

The full journey back to this stage is complete.Last year’s moment on this stage was immediately cemented in the worst parts of Knicks lore.Once this season began, though, it more or less moved to the back of players’ and fans’ minds.But now, it’s impossible not to think back to the crushing collapse in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals last year to the Pacers.

Here the Knicks are, getting set for Game 1 of this year’s conference finals — against the Cavaliers on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden — with a chance to right that wrong.Blowing a 17-point fourth-quarter lead, allowing the Pacers to reel off 23 points in the final 3:14 of regulation, the infamous Tyrese Haliburton jumper to tie the game in the final seconds of regulation and squandering another lead in overtime all taught these Knicks a valuable lesson.One that is no longer on the back burner.It is now front of mind.“I think experience always is able to teach you a lot of lessons [for] this time around,” Jalen Brunson said after practice Monday.

“Obviously we know what we have to do.It’s obviously not gonna be easy at all.

But I think to be able to close games and close quarters is gonna be really important for us.Obviously, last year with Game 1, we didn’t do that.

And Game 2, obviously losing that as well, it changed a lot.So for us, we’ve just gotta be prepared and understand what we have to do for the entire 48 minutes and just be locked in and win or lose, just have short-term memory.”That Game 1 meltdown completely set the tone for the rest of the series.

After the Knicks entered the series as favorites, the mood around the two teams immediately changed.It seemed the Knicks’ confidence did, too.It took until Game 3 before they even recovered, and they already trailed 2-0 in the series by that point.That Game 1 became the defining memory of their entire season.“In the playoffs you never want to give away games that you should win,” Josh Hart said Mon...