History is repeating itself. 

The Knicks are coming off a sweep. They don’t know their opponent yet with over a week of inaction ahead. And the “R” word — rust — is again a concern. 

It’s the exact same situation they found themselves in after making quick work of the 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. 

This time, they believe they are better prepared to be idle. 

“Obviously, rust will be a thing, just having not shot in an NBA game in a while. But we’ll do a better job this time around of preparing for that kind of situation to happen,” Karl-Anthony Towns said after the Knicks completed a dominant series sweep of the Cavaliers to return to the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years. “Obviously, the coaching staff did an amazing job getting us ready for Game 1, but we just didn’t go out there and shoot well.” 

Rust was clearly an issue at the start of the Eastern Conference finals. The Knicks trailed the Cavaliers by 22 points in the fourth quarter, and needed a historic comeback to avoid dropping the opener at home. A similarly shaky performance would likely result in defeat, whether it’s the defending champion Thunder or on-the-rise Spurs. The Knicks will start the finals on the road against either opponent. 

“We just got to figure out a way to get those kinds of game-like reps,” Towns said. “I think the coaching staff heard us loud and clear: We want to get back to work to keep the rhythm and maybe change up the philosophy of how we have those scrimmages that we didn’t do last time. I think we’ll be better prepared. But at the end of the day, it’s all about execution, desperation, energy. We got to bring it Game 1. 

“This team’s hungry, and that’s the most important thing. Even with an amazing, historic win we had tonight, the celebrations were at a minimum. We really want to get to work. We asked Coach [Mike Brown], can we get back to work quick. We know what happened last time we had a long layoff, so we already talked after the game right away about preparing, getting to practice, getting back to the work. It’s what made us special and it’s what’s going to give us a chance to win the next series.”