Yankees’ Knicks-like trait already showing —and could prove pivotal to own Canyon of Heroes trip

Obviously every New York team is going to try to co-opt and connect to the buzz of the Knicks. And on Tuesday night, for the Yankees, that was having Jalen Brunson and the great-nephew of Elston Howard, Josh Hart, deliver first pitches.

Brunson and Hart represent pillars of the best starting five the Knicks have had since the early 1970s at a time when the Yankees have what I believe is a chance at their best starting five since 2002 when Roger Clemens, Orlando Hernandez, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte and David Wells all excelled — with a nice sixth-man run by Ted Lilly. Yes, the pessimist might note now that the 2002 Yankees lost in the Division Series, in part, because the rotation crumbled against the contact-heavy Angels.

Yet, when it comes to connecting these Knicks to the current Yankees, the stronger tether is about depth. The Mike Brown Knicks used the length of their roster to weather a season and postseason in the way that Tom Thibodeau refused — though it would be big of Brown on Thursday during the parade/ceremony to acknowledge the resolve that Thibodeau helped bring to an eventual champion.

The Yankees went into Tuesday an AL-best 8-4 since Aaron Judge last played — a period that also began without Max Fried and Giancarlo Stanton and added Trent Grisham to the IL at a period when the center fielder particularly was helping the Yankees endure without their captain and best player.