The Knicks indeed showed more fight than the previous game in Cleveland, but they were pummeled in the bookend quarters and trailed by double digits for most of the afternoon.

The encouraging moments — perhaps the most encouraging in all three humbling losses to the Celtics this season — arrived in the third quarter, when the struggling Mikal Bridges was benched for Miles McBride and New York cut the deficit to four points.

For a team searching for belief that it might have a sH๏τ against the Celtics in a playoff series, it was the straw to grasp at.

Brunson, who typically focuses on the negative because it fuels improvement, was cryptic about the third-quarter surge, but it felt like there was an underlying message about otherwise playing selfishly.

“We just had a level of not really caring anymore,” Brunson said. “Just all right, we’ve got to go somehow. I mean, from my point of view, that’s what it felt like.”

What did he mean by don’t care?