Knicks pull off insane rally to beat Cavaliers in thrilling OT Game 1 win

It was perfectly poetic.Everything came full circle.The Knicks scripted it perfectly.

Even the overtime part.Last year’s Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals produced an epic Knicks choke, a moment that immediately went down in the worst parts of the franchise’s lore.They spoke Monday about learning their lesson from that game and wanting to right that wrong.And then, after a three-quarter malaise, they delivered their own comeback for the ages to begin this year’s conference finals.

This one will immediately cement itself in the best part of Knicks lore.They overcame a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit in an epic 115-104 Game 1 win over the Cavaliers Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.It was the biggest postseason comeback in franchise history.It was the second-biggest in NBA history, behind the Clippers’ win over the Grizzlies on April 29, 2012.In the play-by-play era, no team that was down by 20 or more points in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter had ever won.Now, there’s one.After going down by 22 points with 7:52 left in the game, the Knicks outscored the Cavaliers 44-11 the rest of the way.

They shot 71 percent from the field — compared to the Cavaliers’ 22 percent — during that stretch.“Definitely thankful,” Jalen Brunson said of the fans.“Because they could’ve walked out.”The Knicks looked dead in the water, well on their way to a concerning blowout loss.

Their win probability on ESPN had reached 0.1 percent.They were bricking in embarrassing style — going just 4-for-23 from 3-point range across the first three quarters.Then, the real Knicks reemerged.

And the floodgates opened.They rattled off a 30-8 run to end the fourth quarter and force overtime.Brunson had 15 of those points, going 7-for-9 from the field.

Mikal Bridges drilled two huge 3-pointers during that stretch.Landry Shamet — who closed the game and played all of overtime in place of Josh Hart — drilled the game-tying 3-pointer with 45.0 seco...