Suddenly it was basketball season late Friday night at the Garden, and not because of the Emirates NBA Cup, whatever that is. It was the end of what had been such a terrific game between the Knicks, who had got Mikal Bridges from the Nets after sending all those first-round picks across the East River to get him, and a young Nets team that had come from being 21 down at the end of the third quarter to take the lead with 12 seconds left. And now, after what had been such a terrific night at the Garden, the ball and the game had ended up in Jalen Brunson’s hands, with the score 122-121. Now this season was about to look and sound an awful lot like the last one for the New York Knicks. Plenty had happened by then, for sure. There had even been one more knockdown — Dorian Finney-Smith putting OG Anunoby on the ground — than there was with Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. Cam Thomas had scored 43 for the Nets and Anunoby, who had been terrific for his team, had fouled out. But there was still time for the Knicks and still time for Brunson. Brunson time, really. He ended up on the left side against Finney-Smith, no rush to him, all calm, and squared up and stepped back and made the 3-pointer that put his team back ahead for good. Dennis Schroder, who had just made the 3-pointer of his own to put the Nets ahead, flew down the right side and right before the buzzer, maybe because this was the way this one was supposed to end, it was Bridges blocking the layup that probably would have sent the game to overtime. At least the Knicks had played some defense before it was too late. “I trusted my work, that’s all it is,” Brunson said to the MSG Network’s Alan Hahn on the court when it was over. Brunson had missed this kind of shot the other night, at home, at the end, against the Bulls. Knicks lost. Not this time, and not twice in a row. Not him. He buried it and the Knicks buried the Nets once and for all, but not without a fight from a young Brooklyn team already playing much better than anybody expected it would. The Knicks didn’t have their center, Karl-Anthony Towns. The Nets didn’t have Nic Claxton, their center. But for this first game of the season between these two teams — and with another scheduled for Sunday night at the Garden — the sides looked very much even. In so many ways, even on a night when Bridges scored 22, the block was his best moment for the Knicks, just because there has been so much focus on the defense — or lack thereof — the Knicks’ starting five has played this season. Of course, it’s early and of course the Knicks are still figuring things out with Towns and Bridges now in the mix, at both ends of the court. But through the first 12 games, they have been weak guarding the pick-and-roll, especially with Towns on the court, and weak with point-of-attack defense, which has put more of a spotlight on Bridges. It’s difficult to believe that a Tom Thibodeau team won’t get better at all of this. Just not yet. “There’s some things we’re doing well defensively, but there are things we have to get better at,” Thibodeau said when Friday’s game was over, before adding this about his team’s defense: “We have to get better at a lot of things.” It was also not too early in the season for Coach Thibs to start lobbying the refs when this was over, as if Game 2 of Knicks vs. Nets was actually Game 2 of a playoff series, talking about how unhappy he is with the whistle the Knicks have been getting so far this season. “They can call it tight, they can call it loose, but it has to be the same for both teams,” he said. Well, yeah, except that when you looked at the box score when it was over, the Nets had been called for 22 fouls and the Knicks had been called for 21, so how mean were the refs being to Thibodeau’s team, really? His team still won, six seconds left, six seconds after it looked as if the Nets might steal this one. This wasn’t just Bridges’ first big moment on this side of the river, in so many ways this was the Knicks first loud moment of a season that began with them getting their doors blown off against the Celtics; a season that has already seen them give up more than 130 points twice and more than 120 three different times. The Knicks nearly fell to 5-7 Friday night. The Nets, with a terrific young coach in Jordi Fernandez, didn’t get to 6-7 and get a half-game in front of the Knicks in the Eastern Conference, in a season when they played the Celtics a much tougher game than the Knicks did. This game would have meant an awful lot to the Nets, and at the Garden, if they could have gotten it. But the way it ended, with the night in Brunson’s hands (37 for him when it was over), meant more to the Knicks. There has been all the misery of the football season, with both the Giants and the Jets. There was the way the World Series ended for the Yankees in Game 5, with a 5-run fifth inning for the Dodgers that looked and felt an awful lot like the New York football season. Everybody needed a moment. Jalen Brunson gave them one at one end, then the new guy, Bridges, did the same at the other. Now they get ready to do it again. You know what they do say in baseball. Let’s play two. Related Articles New York Knicks | Mike Lupica: New York is once again the capital of lousy football New York Knicks | Mike Lupica: With second matchup approaching since postseason battle, can new-look Knicks show they’re better than Indiana Pacers New York Knicks | Mike Lupica: Can the Giants beat the Panthers and at least be champs of Germany? BORAS CHASES THE MONEY, SAQUON LANDED IN PERFECT SPOT & TYSON NEEDS A NAP … It was just over 20 years ago when Scott Boras, repping Alex Rodriguez at the time, was having the same sorts of meetings with owners that he’s having now with Juan Soto. And he and Alex wanted to know about farm systems, and how money was going to be allocated around what Alex was going to make, and long-range plans to make sure that Alex was going to be in a winning situation. Scott and Alex listened, you bet. Then they took the most money from the Rangers. It is once again open season on the Giants because of the way Saquon Barkley is playing. And, by all means, have at it, because the Giants are going to have to wear it. The team is lousy again, the way it was for most of the time Barkley was here. But the idea that the Giants would be a lot better than they are if they still had Barkley, I’m sorry, is ridiculous. He is in a perfect situation in Philly, the kind of situation he was never really in here, not even when the Giants made the playoffs. He’s got a real quarterback and he’s got a real offensive line in front of him and, check me on this, but those things seem to matter with running backs. That’s one piece of this. Here’s the other: He has stayed healthy down the turnpike. Listen, nobody stopped the Giants from putting the right pieces around Barkley, before Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll. Nobody stopped them from putting him in the best possible situation to succeed. It is the same way nobody is stopping them from doing the same for Malik Nabers, who has that kind of talent as a wide receiver, and who must already be thinking he lost a bet now that he’s ended up in Jersey. Wait and see, if the Giants do put Jones on the bench, they’re going to go with Tommy Cutlets, if for the goodwill that might generate with their fans and nothing else. After the latest rankings in college football, you wonder if the people on the committee are watching the same season the rest of us are watching. Speaking of which: You know why I’m happy that Ole Miss is playing the way it’s playing right now? Because the great Archie Manning went to Ole Miss, that’s one reason why. The other is that Eli went there, too. If you haven’t started watching “Cross” yet, from the Alex Cross books written by my friend and writing partner James Patterson, you ought to be. Aldis Hodge is merely terrific in the title role. I think it’s been established already that these aren’t your mother’s Cavaliers, right? Aaron Rodgers says he might come back for another season and there’s a lot of Jets fans I know who are wondering what the good news is. Nick Sirianni is about to make the playoffs for the fourth straight time in Philly, he lost the Super Bowl he was in because of a penalty against James Bradberry, and his Eagles are currently 8-2. But I keep hearing he’s still on the hot seat. Got it. Say it again: Mookie Betts, who keeps going back and forth between the outfield and infield with ease and has now won three World Series, is one of the great baseball players of all time. I saw a social media post the other day about the watch collection Rudy Giuliani has to turn over to the two Georgia election woman because of their $148 million defamation settlement against him, and all I can say is, there wasn’t a wet eye in the house. Since I’m a glass-half-full guy, I’m just glad I didn’t have to lay down PayPerView money to watch Mike Tyson nibble on his boxing gloves — instead of the other guy’s ear — for eight rounds on Friday night. They asked Tyson in the ring afterward what was next for him, and I was waiting for him to say, “A nap.” Mike Lupica’s new Spenser novel, “Robert B. Parker’s Hot Property,” will be on sale Nov. 26.