​It paid off. Once they got back to the Eastern Conference finals — where they’d lost last year to the Pacers — Brunson said he knew they had a real shot at breaking through. They put those hard-learned lessons to use, and their comeback wins against San Antonio closed the deal. “I think once we got to the Conference finals — obviously we lost there a season ago — just getting back there, back to where we were, we understand what we did last time and how can we change that,” said Brunson. “I think once we started to continue to win there, (I knew) yeah, we actually have a chance. But it was I think the best part about it; we just kept chipping away the entire season, and just kept chipping away, chipping away. You just never knew when things were going to break through. And having that mindset, then once they actually did, it was kind of a sigh of relief.”New York Post