This Knicks season is still about the future, so there is nothing more crushing to Knicks brass than losing three times in the final seconds to the Bulls since Dec. 9.
When the teams first met in Chicago in early December, the Bulls owned the league’s worst record at 4-20. If the season ended there, the Knicks would have possessed the 31st pick in the draft — a virtual extra first-round pick (after obtaining the Bulls’ second-rounder in the Carmelo Anthony package).
The Bulls’ last-second victory on Dec. 9 — won by Kris Dunn’s two free throws with 2.