Knicks 120, Bulls 119 (OT): “What a year to be a Knicks fan.”

Only once this season the Knicks gifted fans free basketball, and that didn’t even happen within the walls of the Mecca.

Until Sunday, that was, as they needed five extra minutes of playing time to stiff-arm a ridiculously resilient Bulls squad that wasn’t into messing with the Basketball Gods.

Kudos to Chicago, who was playing for nothing but still put up a fight.

And kudos to New York because it was the lone team across the NBA landscape playing for something that didn’t toy with seeding higher or lower and chose their preferred opponent.

The Bucks, entering Sunday in the No. 2 seed and without an injured Giannis, also rested Damian Lillard and dropped to the No. 3 seed.

The Cavaliers, which could have moved up to the No. 2 seed with a win and losses by the Bucks and the Knicks, allowed the Hornets to blast them in a 21-point defeat.

The Magic won but they weren’t in the race for a top-4 seed. So weren’t the Pacers, the Sixers, or the Heat. But all those three, along with the Knicks, did what they must and won their matchups.

So after winning 50 games for the first time since #MeloDays, the Knicks will open their run toward the third title in franchise history on Saturday, April 20, inside MSG, against the winner of the Philly vs. Miami one-game war scheduled for Wednesday.

PlinyTheWelder nailed the headline: “What a year to be a Knicks fan.”

Bring it on, baby.

Thibs will never change. These Knicks will never change. And that’s something we should appreciate.

New York played 53 minutes of basketball in their season finale. Truth be told, it fits the narrative, and given the cloth of this organization, it’s the thing we should have expected from the get-go.

Of course, Donte DiVincenzo rested all of 29 seconds. Math 101 taught me that means DiVo played 52 minutes and 31 seconds. Just saying.

The only thing DDV could say after the game: “You know who we play for. Everything counts. We want to win every single game.”

Immaculate.

The Bulls wouldn’t go away all Sunday. DeRozan? 30 pops. Vooch? 29 points. Coby White? 26, love this young stud. Caruso and mouth-kicked Green? Combined for 26.

The Knicks wouldn’t give them any breathing room. DiVo hit 25 pops. Hart and Hartenstein scored a combined 20 pulling down 23 boards between them.

Jalen Brunson bagged 40 for the 12th time this season because of course he had to match Patrick Ewing’s second-best record for the most 40+ points games in a single season, trailing only Knicks GOAT Bernard King who did it 13 times in 1985.

And OG Anunoby. Well, let the clip tell you.

That’s just one of the many delightful bites OG took at DeRozan, limiting his production and preventing him from hitting game-winning buckets on a play-by-play basis. Wonderful trade, Leon!

(For the record, it was another all-around outing by Anunoby, who finished Sunday’s matchup with an 11-5-4-2-1 line and a positive-8 plus/minus).

(I’m also contractually obligated to remind you that the Knicks are 20-3 with OG on the lineup).

For one final time before real basketball hits New York City, here is how things are looking ahead of Wednesday’s Play-In and Saturday’s tip-off.

The Sixers and the Heat will have to beat the Knicks three days after playing each other in a do-or-die (with an asterisk) matchup.

The Knicks, on the other hand, are only 16 wins separated from winning their third Larry O’B.

What a time to be alive. Tell ‘em, Spike.

“Oh Yeah, I’m Happy. New York Knickerbockers Finish 2nd In Eastern Conference. We Can All Rest, Will Play The Winner Of Philly Vs. Miami Play-In. I Don’t See Nuthin’ But ORANGE And BLUE SKIES. YA-DIG? SHO-NUFF. And that’s “Jalen Brunson” Iz Da MVP Truth, Ruth. YA-DIG❓SHO-NUFF ”

— Spike Lee