As soon as the final horn sounded Saturday night on the Knicks’ 123-112 win, Pistons forward and Long Island native Tobias Harris went over to his team’s bench and went down the line, offering words of encouragement to his group. 

“It’s a series,” Harris reminded them. “You can’t get too high, you can’t get too low.” 

For three quarters of Saturday’s game, the Pistons looked like the better team.

But it was the final — and most important 12-minute frame — where everything unraveled for Detroit. 

The Knicks socked the Pistons with a 21-0 run in the fourth quarter, turning an eight-point deficit into a 13-point lead with 4:49 left. 

For some teams, especially a young group like the Pistons who had three starters experiencing the NBA playoffs for the first time Saturday, that type of late-game collapse could be demoralizing. 

Not for the Pistons, according to Harris. 

In fact, Harris said Detroit’s confidence remains at an “all-time high.” 

“We’re in the playoffs. We know what time it is,” Harris said. “This group is always about bouncing back and making sure we’re focusing, our energy level is where it needs to be. That’s why vets like myself are here to make sure this group’s spirit is up. … We’re excited and we’re embracing this challenge. Drop our first game, but we’ll be ready to go for Game 2.” 

The immediate aftermath of Saturday’s game left an unsavory taste for the Pistons, but coach J.B. Bickerstaff believes his team will ultimately be better having experienced that late-game blowup. 

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“These are learning lessons for us,” Bickerstaff said. “We have to be honest with ourselves when it comes to that. We talked pregame about what experience is and this is experience. Now you come back the next game and how quickly do you learn from it?

“You’ve got guys in their first playoff game and understanding what playoff basketball is and what closing a playoff basketball game is and how hard that is.” 

The biggest lesson from the fourth quarter should be how quickly the little things, such as offensive rebounds, 50-50 balls and turnovers, can add up and be detrimental to the team. 

Overall, Harris and Bickerstaff were proud of the way the Pistons kept their composure despite being the villains under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden. 

“[The Knicks] did what they were supposed to do in Game 1,” Bickerstaff said. “Now we’ve got tape, we’ve got some experience. We can go back, break it down and be better in Game 2.”