The greater goal — OK, the greatest goal — was realized by the Knicks with their championship. For the first time in 53 years, there’s a new mountaintop aim for the franchise. Now it’s about repeating.

That’s not nearly as daunting as ending a half-century title drought, but defending Larry O’Brien is still an underdog mission considering the following factors:

1. The Eastern Conference is considerably better with the full-throttle returns of Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum, plus the relocations of Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

2. In this CBA-inspired age of parity, no team has repeated as champs since 2018. Adam Silver loves it. Just ask him.