Finals or bust.

It’s the expectation hovering over this season, unspoken by the Knicks publicly but very apparent in their actions. You don’t fire a coach to tread water. And Tom Thibodeau, not too long ago, fell two victories short of the NBA Finals.

Luckily for Mike Brown and the front office, the L-Eastern Conference is there for the taking after Achilles tears to Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton.

“The path is open,” ESPN analyst Tim Legler said last week. “This pathway has been cleared out. You had the last two teams in the East that represented The Finals dealing with devastating injuries — Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, the two best players on those teams. Whether you see Tatum or not, it will be very late in the year, if at all. Haliburton, you won’t see at

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