This Knicks win was really just a prologue for what really matters to this team

This was just a taste, a tease, a temptress batting her eyes at you. The Knicks and the Celtics were down there on the floor at Madison Square Garden, the calendar said spring, and spring means we can finally begin to emerge from the drudgery that can sometimes dog the 82-game schedule, especially this time around. 

Nothing was clinched Thursday night when the Knicks edged the Celtics 112-106, not in a literal sense nor a metaphorical one. The Celtics will have to wait until Friday night to wrap up their Atlantic Division crown, back home against the Pelicans. The Knicks did manage to avoid allowing the C’s to celebrate at the Garden. That was something. 

They beat Boston three out of four times this year, and that’s not nothing, and it allows you to feel a little better about the way they’re closing this season out. Backed with their win in Atlanta on Monday, that’s two straight against two good teams after the Knicks looked baffled against good teams for the better part of a month. 

But the Knicks really didn’t prove anything, either. One more time, the 52nd time in what has felt the entire way like an 82-game exhibition schedule, the Knicks had enough grit and gumption and muscle memory to win a game. It is an indication of how far the Knicks have come in these last six years that win No. 52 was greeted the way the 51 previous ones were.