Maybe the Knicks just couldn’t hear opportunity knocking over all that noise at Madison Square Garden.

A raucous crowd chanting for “De-fense!” couldn’t push the hot-starting Knicks over the finish line Sunday in a 108-101 loss to the Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals — the kind of game that could be looked back upon a week from now as a huge missed opportunity.

Here are the four things to know about Game 1:

1. Did the Knicks notice Jimmy Butler was hurt? Because they didn’t play like it.

The Heat essentially played 4-on-5 at both ends over the final 5:05 after Jimmy Butler rolled his ankle. He writhed in pain on the ground during a stoppage, made the two subsequent free throws to stretch the lead to 97-92 and hobbled his way to the final horn.

The crunch-time killer was nothing more than a decoy stuck in the corner on offense, missing his only field-goal attempt of the final five minutes. He literally was air-shooting to practice his stroke as teammates dribbled across midcourt, but the Knicks’ defense didn’t sag off to help on others.

At the other end of the floor, the strategy should have been to feed the ball to the wing closest to Butler and force him to shuffle his feet on a drive. Instead the Knicks stuck to familiar drives by Jalen Brunson.

The Knicks were outscored by four points with Butler limited. Unacceptable.

2. Spoelstra 1, Thibodeau 0: Playing without Julius Randle — whose recovery from a sprained ankle will be monitored closely over the coming days, along with Butler’s —the Knicks scored 26 of their first 40 points in the paint and built a 12-point first-half lead. At one point, they held a 40-22 edge in points in the paint.

And then Heat coach Erik Spoelstra made the defensive adjustment to pack the paint — collapsing defenders every time Brunson drove looking for one of his patented floaters — and let the Knicks try to win the game from behind the arc.

The Knicks shot 7-of-34 from 3-point range. They were able to survive a 3-of-16 effort in the first half to bring a five-point lead into halftime, but going 4-of-18 in the second half spelled doom. Brunson (0-for-7) and Hart (0-for-4) came up empty. Immanuel Quickly, Quentin Grimes and R.J. Barrett combined to go 3-of-12. Obi Toppin (4-for-11) led the team in 3-point makes and attempts.

Let’s see what (if?) Tom Thibodeau offers as a counter in Game 2 on Tuesday night.

3. It felt like Knicks-Heats circa the late 1990s. Several days of living in the past culminated Sunday with the pre-game montage of highlights from the four Knicks-Heat playoff series from 1997-2000.

The league has changed a lot since then — the winning team only broke 100 points once during those 24 games and not once did both teams break 100 — but this game did the rivalry justice.

There was a technical foul (Brunson) and bodies crashing everywhere under the basket. In all, 35 personal fouls were called, but there could’ve been more. There was a “let them play” vibe seen late, when Barrett drove to the basket and threw up a shot that looked more like a bride tossing a wedding bouquet. No bail-out whistle.

4. Kyle Lowry was the best point guard on the floor, and it wasn’t close. Brunson’s arrival last offseason ended the Knicks’ 20-plus-year search for a point guard. But Sunday was a reminder of one of the most prominent failed pursuits during that stretch.

The Knicks and Raptors were in advanced trade talks for Lowry as far back as 2013. His name never really fell off the radar in the eyes of Knicks’ fans. As recently as 2021, The Post reported the “Knicks would love to add [Lowry] on a whopping two-year deal,” but he instead landed with the Heat in a sign-and-trade.

Lowry made all the winning plays down the stretch: With the Heat leading 97-94, he stole the ball from Mitchell Robinson to set up a possession ending in a 3, then he assisted on Bam Adebayo’s basket and scored the next one himself on a tough fadeaway to make it 104-94. He finished with 18 points, six assists and five rebounds off the bench.

Brunson finished with 25 points, seven assists and five rebounds, but shot 11-of-23 from the field and committed five turnovers. The first installment of the Villanova mentor-vs.-Villanova mentee matchup-within-the-matchup went to the elder Lowry.

“I was horrific,” Brunson said. “I have to be better.”

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On a busy sports weekend in New York, let’s take a minute to acknowledge what a horrendous watch the Yankees — who on Sunday were blown out by the Rangers, 15-2 — are right now.

A microcosm of a team that has lost six of its past eight games: The top of the Yankees lineup came to bat with two runners on base and no outs in the top of the fifth inning. Trailing 4-1 to the Rangers, it felt as if the Yankees had some life.

In two pitches, the inning was over. Anthony Volpe flew out to center field and Oswald Peraza hit into a double play. Two first-pitching-swinging outs facing a three-run deficit and a pitcher on the ropes.

I’ve wondered all week, “What am I watching?” The answer dawned on me Sunday: a last-place team.

The Yankees and Red Sox share the American League East basement with identical 15-14 records.

Let’s start with an admission: I’ve watched an average of zero minutes of regular-season hockey per year since 2006, but I almost never miss a Rangers playoff game.

And this wild ride of a Rangers-Devils series got me thinking: Does Chris Kreider’s No. 20 belong in the Madison Square Garden rafters when he retires?

When I posed this question on Twitter, the responses were split almost down the middle, but best summed up by @wilfred_bergqvi: “Borderline if he doesn’t win a [Stanley] Cup. If he wins one, 100%.” So, win and in. Lose and wait decades to be appreciated.

Kreider, 32, ranks No. 13 in franchise history in games played (733), fifth in goals (265) and No. 13 in points (477).

That’s a fine regular-season career — and his current contract runs through 2026-27 — but one that falls short of immortalization when compared to the elite company he would keep with Rod Gilbert (7), Ed Giacomin (1), Mike Richter (35), Mark Messier (11), Vic Hadfield (11), Brian Leetch (2), Adam Graves (9), Harry Howell (3), Andy Bathgate (9) and Jean Ratelle (19).

Now factor in the games that I watch, and the lens begins to change.

Kreider is the Rangers’ all-time leader in playoff goals (40). He is tied with Messier for the NHL record with 16 goals in games when his team (in Kreider’s case, only the Rangers) is facing elimination.

He probably is going to have to break that record as well as the team record for most goals in a series — he currently shares the record with six — on Monday night if the Rangers are going to win Game 7 at Prudential Center.

It seems the Rangers always are making a splashy addition who is supposed to deliver a Stanley Cup, whether that’s Martin St. Louis (nine goals in 44 career playoff games with the Rangers) and Rick Nash (14 in 73) in the past or this season’s combination of Patrick Kane (one in six) and Vladimir Tarasenko (three in six).

And yet it also always seems Kreider — who scored the first goal of Game 6 to end the Rangers’ nearly 97-minute scoring drought and snap an 0-for-14 rut on the power play — is the one to deliver under pressure, ever since he scored five goals in 18 playoff games as a rookie in 2012.

To borrow from a sport I know better, Kreider seems to have a Bernie Williams-esque quality where he ascends from good to great in the playoffs. I’ll argue for Williams and against Paul O’Neil as retired Yankees numbers with a nuance that speaks to having watched them from April through October year-in and year-out.

But sometimes the 30,000-foot view is needed: From where I sit, Kreider’s jersey belongs in the MSG rafters when he is done playing.

Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

If Newton were an NFL fan, he probably would have noted that for every draft pick, there is a ripple effect.

The Post handed out league-wide team grades and grades for each Giants and Jets pick on Saturday, but here is a closer look at some winners and losers across the league.

In New York

Winner: Jets LT Mekhi Becton. A Patriots-Steelers trade cost the Jets a chance to draft Broderick Jones (the last of the top four offensive tackles) at No. 15. Becton has shown a commitment to getting in better shape this offseason after two injury-plagued seasons, but it still would have been smart to motivate Becton to go hard to win a starting bookend job in camp. Fourth-rounder Carter Warren isn’t a worthy challenger yet.

Losers: Giants OGs Ben Bredeson and Shane Lemieux. The two guards were supposed to compete to start at center after Nick Gates and Jon Feliciano left in free agency. But second-round pick John Michael Schmitz, 24, is NFL-ready. So, that leaves Bredeson and the oft-injured Lemieux — holdovers from the previous regime — competing against three Joe Schoen-influenced draft picks Jack Anderson (2021, Bills), Josh Ezeudu and Marcus McKethan for one guard spot. One could be cut.

Winner: Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. Not every general manager is willing to listen to assistant coaches. But Martindale’s influence was obvious when he hugged Schoen after the first-round selection of press-man cornerback Deonte Banks. It also felt as if the seventh-round additions of space-eating 338-pound defensive tackle Jordon Riley and one-high safety Gerrvarius Owens were made with Martindale’s schematics in mind.

Winner: Jets WR Corey Davis. Similar to Becton, Davis is a winner because the Jets did not use a premium pick (or any pick) on a receiver. Early offseason speculation that Davis might be cut for salary-cap savings gave way to speculation that he might be included in a trade for Aaron Rodgers. He’s still here despite the free-agent additions of Allen Lazard and Mecole Hardman — and more needed than expected.

Loser: Jets head coach Robert Saleh. Acquiring Rodgers put AFC Championship Game-or-bust expectations on Saleh. But the Jets didn’t make a single pick who projects to start this season. And Saleh — as the brains behind the deep defensive line rotation the Jets use to keep fourth-quarter legs fresh — will have to answer when it seems as if first-round pick Will McDonald isn’t making the immediate impact of other first-round pass rushers because he is no higher than No. 6 on the edge depth chart.

Winner: Giants RB Saquon Barkley. Despite late buzz that the Giants might consider a first-round running back, their willingness to trade their fourth-round pick and one of their fifths meant both waiting until pick No. 173 to add depth and not trading for the Lions’ DeAndre Swift. Rookie Eric Gray is a chunk-runner like Barkley and not likely to take away the starter’s carries because he offers something different. The Giants and the unsigned Barkley soon will resume contract talks.

Rest of the league

Losers: Titans QB Ryan Tannehill and Lions QB Jared Goff. The two veteran starters were put on the clock when their teams selected Will Levis and Hendon Hooker, respectively. Tannehill is a free agent after the season, and Goff has no guaranteed money on the final year of his contract in 2024. If either team falters early in the season, the future could arrive sooner than expected.

Losers: 15 NFC teams. The Eagles already had a big advantage on the rest of the NFC, and it only increased this weekend. As one NFL assistant coach told The Post during the playoffs, “If they can rebuild the defensive front, they will be very tough for the foreseeable future.” Well, adding first-round picks Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith addressed that concern. Kelee Ringo and Sydney Joseph addressed holes in the secondary. Trading a fourth-rounder for Swift was a heist.

Winners: Rookie quarterbacks. Call it the “Brock Purdy Factor.” Fourteen quarterbacks were selected (including a record 12 through the first five rounds) after just nine went in 2022. The record is 17 in 2004. Why? More teams are looking to develop their own Purdy, the 2022 Mr. Irrelevant who led the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game and will be their starter (if healthy after elbow surgery) in 2023 at a salary-cap-friendly figure of $889,252.

Loser: Les Snead’s “F them picks” strategy. The strategy of trading picks popularized on T-shirts by Rams general manager Les Snead looked brilliant when the team won the Super Bowl in February 2021. It didn’t look great when the injury-plagued Rams had no quality depth, finished 5-12 last season and didn’t own their No. 6 overall pick on Thursday. The Rams traded down four times and wound up making an NFL-high 14 picks. The Ravens, who traditionally value picks, made only five selections.