Mickey Togs

Jalen Brunson had a superb season, from the start until the bitter end, but the Knicks’ other top players couldn’t do nearly enough to help him keep that season alive.

Brunson followed up his 48-minute masterpiece from two nights earlier  with 41 points in 45 minutes, but the Knicks received little production from Julius Randle and RJ Barrett in a crushing, season-ending 96-92 loss to the Heat in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series at Kaseya Center.

“You’ve got to give the Heat a lot of credit. They didn’t play like an eight seed, at all,” Brunson said. “For me, we did a lot of great things this season. We obviously want the team to keep playing, to have the opportunity.

“It stings a little bit, definitely a learning experience. But if you don’t win, you lose.”

Aside from Brunson, who finished 14-for-22 from the field, the other four Knicks starters shot a combined 15.6 percent (5-for-32). 

That shoddy statistic included 20 of 24 misses by Randle (15 points) and Barrett (11) as the Knicks fell to 0-15 in their history when trailing 3-1 in a best-of-seven playoff series.

After taking a 6-0 lead against the Rays and blowing it with Gerrit Cole on the mound, the Yankees came back to force extra innings before suffering a crushing loss.

The Rays walked it off for an 8-7 win in 10 innings in front of 32,142 in a playoff-like atmosphere at Tropicana Field.

Despite the teams being separated by nine games entering the series — with the Rays (28-7) atop the AL East and the Yankees (18-17) in last place, just as they finished the weekend — they played three one-run games. 

And yet dropping two of three, especially with how gut-wrenching Sunday’s finale was, felt like a brutal swing for the beaten-up Yankees.

“I feel like we could have walked away with three of these games and they probably feel the same way,” Anthony Rizzo said.

After the Yankees’ bullpen had already used Jimmy Cordero, Clay Holmes, Wandy Peralta and Michael King to get through the ninth inning — with Ian Hamilton and Ron Marinaccio unavailable — Albert Abreu came on for the bottom of the 10th and allowed a one-out single to Isaac Paredes to end it.

KFC is about to add two new chicken sandwiches: the Ultimate BBQ KFC Chicken Sandwich and Spicy Slaw Chicken Sandwich.

• The Ultimate BBQ KFC Chicken Sandwich features an Extra Crispy, 100 percent white meat filet with KFC’s Honey BBQ sauce, crispy fried onions, hickory-smoked bacon, melted cheese and pickles all on a premium brioche bun. 
• The Spicy Slaw Chicken Sandwich consists of an Extra Crispy, 100 percent white meat filet is topped with cole slaw to perfectly cool down the heat of the spicy mayo, topped with pickles all on a premium brioche bun.

Both sandwiches are available a la carte or in a combo that also includes a medium drink and an individual side.