This one was for you, whether you were one of the lucky 19,812 inside Madison Square Garden or among the rowdies outside on Seventh Avenue who just wanted to be in the vicinity of a Big Game. This was for you, watching at your neighborhood saloon, or in your den, listening on the radio, delight and disbelief dueling in your soul.

You eat a lot of trash as a sports fan, and you’re asked to do it with a smile. Knicks fans? Goodness. There have been so many dark nights going back to the start of the millennium, so many awful teams and forgettable players and bum coaches. How many times did you munch free hot dogs and sodas, sitting through the excruciating final hours of a lost year?

“We definitely felt the energy,” Jalen Brunson said. “The way they’ve supported us all year, it’s been remarkable. I was really happy we were able to do that.”

Yeah. This one was for you every bit as much as it was for the 12 players who contributed to this preposterous, borderline absurd 119-81 win over the Celtics, the latest playoff win in Knicks history, the biggest playoff win going back to 1999. This is why you kept watching. This is why you kept coming back.