The game had been a rough-and-tumble, no-autopsy-no-foul affair, and the Knicks had come out on the short end of a 77-51 final to the Cleveland Rebels in the first playoff game in Knicks history, on April 2, 1947.

Afterward, Neil Cohalan offered up two of the best gems a Knicks coach might ever have uttered postgame. Cohalan had been a four-sport star at Manhattan College and had assembled a fine 165-80 record as the Jaspers’ coach from 1929-42. He was also the scion of a prominent New York judicial family, and it was assumed he’d join the family business when he graduated law school.

But the gymnasium won out over the courtroom. Ned Irish had wanted to hire Joe Lapchick as coach, but Lapchick was only two years into a five-year contract with St. John’s and asked for a year’s grace, recommending Cohalan as a one-year place-holder. Irish agreed, and quickly realized Cohalan was in over his head.

Still, the Knicks finished 33-27, made the playoffs. And despite getting throttled in that first game, Cohalan lamented afterward: “It’s pretty simple, boys. We were hosed.”