What made the Knicks’ Game 1 choke so hard to believe

It’s the noise we’ve missed for too long at Madison Square Garden in springtime.

For those of a certain age, it’s been too damned long — 25 years, to be exact, since the Knicks had reached an Eastern Conference finals before Wednesday’s Game 1 against the Pacers tipped off shortly after 8 p.m. in New York.

The Garden was buzzing. It seemed like there were more A-list celebrities crammed around courtside than you’d find at a hot Grammys afterparty in Los Angeles.

Deep into springtime, when things are going right around these parts, the Garden produces beautiful sounds. Ear-splitting, hair-raising sounds. Sounds that have thankfully returned this spring with the two riveting playoff series victories over the Pistons and Celtics.