NEW ORLEANS — The Knicks received an example two years ago of how different the playoffs can be from the regular season.

There is more pressure, more intensity, more familiarity.

The two are different animals. 

The Knicks were one of the best teams during the 2020-21 regular season, finishing fourth in the Eastern Conference.

They won all three meetings with the Hawks that regular season, but the postseason was a very different story.

Coach Tom Thibodeau’s team on the wrong end of a gentleman’s sweep, outclassed across five games by Atlanta. 

“You’re just playing the same team over and over again. The intensity goes up,” Thibodeau said on Friday night, before the Knicks lost to the Pelicans, 113-105, at Smoothie King Center to close out the road portion of this surprisingly strong season. “You see it when you play a team back-to-back, and multiply that in a seven-game series. So each game becomes more intense. And what works in one game probably won’t work the next game.” 

Added RJ Barrett: “Definitely a different energy.” 

Thibodeau said he believes what makes a team successful across 82 games are the same things that will equate to winning in the playoffs.

It’s unselfishness, it’s defense, it’s shot-making.

There are subtle differences, but he doesn’t want his players thinking they have to change once they step on the floor for Game 1 at Cleveland next weekend.

This group does have more postseason experience than the one two years ago did, in particular holdovers such as Barrett, Julius Randle, Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin, and newcomer Jalen Brunson, who reached the Western Conference finals last year with the Mavericks. 

“That’s why when you begin your season you think about what you’re going to need in the end. You want to build those habits all season long so when you get there you’re not adjusting,” Thibodeau said. “And then the biggest difference, and I always say it to our players, the biggest difference between colleges and the pros, is in college it’s a one-game series and either you move onto another opponent or you go home. In the pros it’s seven games. That intensity is different.” 

The Knicks‘ five-game winning streak came to an end on Friday as they played without Julius Randle (sprained left ankle), Brunson (right-hand maintenance) and Mitchell Robinson (rest).

Barrett, who was active after missing the previous two games with an illness, had 28 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 36 minutes, while Quickley added 24 points.

They didn’t have enough in the end, however.

The Pelicans (42-39) needed the game for home-court advantage in the play-in tournament and played that way, outscoring the Knicks by eight in the final quarter. 

The Knicks have one regular season game left before the postseason, and they are familiar with the Cavaliers, their opening-round opponent.

The two just played a week ago, with Thibodeau’s team prevailing on the road behind Brunson’s 48 points.

But the Knicks (47-34) won’t begin really preparing for Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and company until after the regular season ends Sunday at the Garden against the Pacers.

The franchise’s advance scouts and personnel department have been busy preparing for the series, but the Knicks’ players and coaches won’t turn their focus to the Cavaliers quite yet. 

“There’s a format that we follow,” Thibodeau said. “We’re following that format, collecting the data, organizing it. Putting books together. … You go into the series, you have to take it step-by-step. Finish the season, try to finish the season as strong as you can. Then once you get to the playoffs you lay out your playoff format. So it’s just the next progression of what we’ve already begun.”