OK, so: play desperate. To Knicks head coach Mike Brown, that means:

• Persistent focus and attention to detail, irrespective of score and personnel in the game;

• A non-negotiable level of energy, effort and physicality (“Sometimes you might screw up a rotation or an assignment or something like that, but the energy and the effort — along with the physicality, on both ends of the floor — has to always be there”);

• Loud, continuous, constant communication — not only on the defensive end of the floor, but also even if you’re sitting on the bench. (And you probably shouldn’t be sitting, because, y’know: energy and effort.)

“If you do those things, no matter what the score is, to me, that's playing desperate,” Brown said before Game 3. “That's having an appropriate fear of your opponent.”

While Brown leaned on the wisdom of Pop in emphasizing vigilance to a team that hadn’t lost in a month, Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson’s message to his team — a squad that overcame a 2-0 deficit in the second round and had survived consecutive Game 7s — was a bit more measured, and a little less … paranoid.

“I think that the maturity part, the even-keeledness of our team, the composure we have, the experience we have allows us to approach this in a good way,” Atkinson said before Game 3. “Not desperate — none of those words, those extreme words. We kind of know the task in front of us, what we’ve got to do.”

What we learned on Saturday night in Cleveland: Desperation looks good on the Knicks …

… and a lack of it has the Cavs facing elimination after a 121-108 loss.

New York jumped the Cavs from the opening tip at Rocket Arena — which, like Philadelphia’s gym in the conference finals, featured more than its fair share of orange-and-blue jerseys and vociferous support for the visitors. Right from the opening seconds: A Towns trail 3 in transition; a steal and driving layup by Bridges; a dime from Towns in the post creating a layup for Brunson as he curled off a screen; a fast break helmed by Josh Hart that saw Bridges sprint past Dean Wade and Donovan Mitchell before finishing through a backpedaling James Harden at the basket.

“They came right out of the gate running it on us,” Atkinson said after the game. “You know, Mike said it. Listen, there’s no big mystery. Our guys have played 50% more minutes than them. If I’m the opposing coach, I’m like, ‘Man, get these guys, run these guys, wear them out, be super physical.’ It’s a good strategy.”

It bore fruit: The Knicks led 9-1 before Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce had even settled into their seats — a strong start that Brown credited to assistant coach Chris Jent challenging New York’s players “to start the game right, especially with the execution of the first play, and our guys did it.”

The Cavaliers would respond, coming back to tie the game midway through the second quarter. But they would never take the lead, seeming to spend all of Saturday night chasing a Knicks team that repeatedly forced the Cavs to get on their horses and get back in transition, finishing with a 17-4 edge in fast-break points — and, perhaps more importantly, a dramatic and ever-growing edge in vitality between one team that got more than a week off after sweeping its previous series, and another that went the distance in each of the first two rounds and has been playing every other day for more than a month.

“I did think their physicality and energy level was much higher than ours,” Atkinson said. “Kind of just call it what it is [...] they were the more physical team tonight. I think their physicality and energy, we just couldn’t get to that level to combat it.”

“We did it to ourselves,” said Mitchell, who scored 23 points on 9-for-21 shooting (3-for-10 from 3-point range) with 4 assists, 3 steals and 5 turnovers in 38 minutes. “We did it to ourselves. So we can’t be mad now.”

They also, once again, couldn’t make enough shots to stem the Knicks’ relentless tide, continuing a cold snap stretching back to the fourth quarter of Game 1 in which they’ve been perpetually incapable of knocking down the shot they needed at the time they needed it. Cleveland went 12-for-41 (29.3%) from 3-point range in Game 3; Atkinson’s club is now shooting 29.4% from deep for the series and averaging just 103.4 points per 100 possessions. That mark would’ve finished dead last in the NBA during the regular season.

“I think we’ve won the expected [field-goal-percentage metrics] all three games,” Atkinson said. “So, it just, you know, but — there’s expected and real.”

What was expected, before the season, is that the Cavaliers and Knicks would be the two best teams in the Eastern Conference. What’s real, at this stage, is the Knicks are head and shoulders above the Cavs and have answers for absolutely everything Atkinson and Co. are trying to throw at them.

After Brunson exploded in the fourth quarter and overtime of Game 1, the Cavs dialed up the pressure, trying to get the ball out of his hands and force other Knicks to beat them. That led to Brunson delivering 14 assists, Hart scoring 26 points, Towns punishing them inside and out, and the Knicks winning Game 2 by 16.

In Game 3, the Cavs dialed back the aggressive sagging off Hart and didn’t show quite as much pressure on Brunson, so the Knicks promptly went back to using Towns as their offensive hub from the high post and playing through their wings. Towns finished with seven assists. Bridges and OG Anunoby combined for 43 points on 25 shots. Game 1 hero Landry Shamet continued to be a thorn in Cleveland’s side, coming off the bench to drill four of five 3-pointers, scoring 14 points with three assists in 27 minutes, while also playing committed, physical defense on the clearly laboring Mitchell.

Oh, and Brunson still scored 30, nine of which came in the fourth quarter, as the Knicks pushed their lead as high as 17 before claiming the win — one in which they scored more than 120 points per 100 possessions for the eighth time in the last 10 games, a testament to an offense that’s become lethally adaptable.

“They're paying a lot of attention to Jalen. Somebody's gonna be open if the floor is spaced and we're getting off the ball in a timely manner,” Brown said. “And literally, because of the way they're playing D, we're just playing conceptually. We're really trying to play fast, trying to space the floor the right way, trying to touch the paint, trying to make quick decisions with the basketball.”

If that style of offense sounds familiar to you, it might be because you remember watching the team that beat the Knicks in this round last season.

“I think the strength of their team is they play a certain way that elevates everybody — I think we've seen that,” Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of the Indiana Pacers during the NBA Finals last June. “You really can't key on an individual player, an individual thing. You really have to defend them conceptually, because that's how they're existing on offense.”

What a difference a year makes. The Knicks were the team getting eliminated by an opponent that you had to defend conceptually; now, they’re the one tying the opposing defense in knots by doing so. (Keep this up, and maybe Daigneault finds himself answering a similar question about New York in a couple of weeks.)

The Knicks are now the 10th team in NBA history to run off a winning streak of 10 or more games in a single postseason, according to Stathead. One of them, the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors, featured Brown as an assistant coach.

“I mean, obviously, this is the time that you want to peak, you know, is come playoff time. But it just happens,” Brown said. “I remember when I was at Golden State, I think we won 10 or 11 in a row, and it wasn't anything that we planned, you know? It just happened. Your players, they're connected, they're sacrificing. You know, they're doing the things I always talk about. They're holding each other accountable. They're believing in the process with each other, and they're playing with a competitive spirit that's unmatched. And you know, if you do those things while focusing on the details and communicating and bringing energy and effort, you have a chance to string some games together.”

You have a chance to do a hell of a lot more than that, too: Five of the first nine teams to roll off 10 straight in the postseason won the NBA championship.

“When you're in the playoffs, it's about trying to peak at the right time,” Brown said. “It's about, knock on wood, trying to stay healthy and having a little bit of luck.”

It’s also about finding the right combination of players, not just on the court, but off it — a group that can coalesce into something greater than the sum of its parts. Bit by bit, day by day, these Knicks have grown into that kind of collective — a team united in purpose and belief in one another, and capable of absolutely leveling your city and taking your soul when it comes down to it.

“We have a bunch of individuals in that locker room who work really hard, and they're very psychotic about their work and the things they do, and making sure that they're ready, physically and mentally,” Brunson said. “So when their number’s called and then when there's time to go out there, they're ready. A lot of real professionals on our roster. So no matter whose number is called, someone's gonna step up. Someone's gonna be ready. That's just the nature of who we have here, and it's been a pleasure working with these guys. I mean, it's been unbelievable.”

“Everybody wants to see each other do well — genuinely,” Shamet said. “I mean that. If you guys write that in your report, it's not some locker-room banter or BS. It’s, like, spiritual with this group. You know, we’ve got a lot of guys who are more than capable of being in certain situations, and we cheer each other on. Next man up. It's a beautiful thing, and it's what we have, in this locker room. So it's special.”

Special teams can do special things, and this one now sits a single win away from doing something no Knicks team has done since 1999: returning to the NBA Finals. You will, no doubt, be shocked to learn that they’re not looking ahead to Game 1 of that series. They’ve gotten this far by tightening the aperture to focus solely on the six inches in front of their faces; they’re not going to start widening it now.

“You don't look ahead, most importantly,” Brunson said. “You just deal with what's in front of you. So we have the first possession, and the first quarter, and then you have the first half, and then you go on, you go on. You just continue to just deal with what's in front of you, and just have your teammate’s back. Make sure everyone's on the same page, make sure that everyone's holding each other accountable. That's just the most important thing right now.”

The most important thing for the Cavs right now? Live to see a day past Monday’s Game 4.

“Get one, and then we’ll go from there,” Atkinson said.

What’s it going to take to get that one?

"Let's start with making some shots, getting some stops, and making some free throws," Mitchell said.

While the Cavs try that novel strategy, Brown will continue to hammer home the same talking points he’s been delivering — one that has the Knicks on the verge of their second straight playoff sweep, and on the verge of their first Finals run this century. Because, from the sound of it, his guys have received the message, loud and clear.

“Keep your mind on the task at hand,” Towns said. “The game is over. We found a way to win tonight, but we have to have the same desperation, like this is 0-0 and it’s Game 1.”