The Knicks made the playoffs in every season of the 1990s and twice more to start the new millennium, reaching the NBA Finals twice in that span behind gritty defensive-minded teams that perfectly represented New York’s tenacity and lunch-pail work ethic.

A couple of decades of despair and mostly losing hoops later, those traits once again were the backbone of the Knicks’ suffocating 99-79 blowout victory Friday night in Game 3 over the Cavaliers to carry a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series entering Sunday’s fourth game.

The Knicks began four straight days of alternating home playoff games with the Rangers with a throwback defensive gem at a raucous and chaotic Madison Square Garden.

They registered 14 steals and 11 offensive rebounds, while holding Donovan Mitchell and the Cavs to 38.8 percent shooting and just 7-for-33 from 3-point range.

The boisterous home crowd erupted throughout the fourth quarter as the Knicks pulled away, with separate throaty chants for RJ Barrett, Obi Toppin, Julius Randle, Jalen Brunson, popular non-rotation veteran Derrick Rose and, of course, often reminding their visitors that “Cleveland sucks!”