VAN APPRECIATION

Stan suggests Knick love for Jeff is ‘fake’ as team loses 50th

A year after Jeff Van Gundy was invited to a 1999 NBA Finals reunion at the Garden, his brother is skeptical that the appreciation is genuine.

Why? Stan Van Gundy witnessed Garden fakeness firsthand when Patrick Ewing was his assistant coach with the Orlando Magic.

“It would be great if there was a true appreciation from the organization but you never know on things like that,” Stan Van Gundy said Saturday before his Pistons toppled the Knicks, 115-109. “Like we used to walk in here and Patrick would be sitting next to me on the bench and they’d put him up on the Jumbotron and everybody would clap and he could never get an interview for any freakin’ job they had (except for the D-League job).

“So that’s sort of fake appreciation in my opinion. So I don’t know what it is in Jeff’s case. If it’s genuine appreciation, that’s great. If it’s just a way for them to appease their fans, a little bit different.” With the exception of a short stint from Mike Woodson, Jeff Van Gundy is New York’s last winning coach with a 430-318 record and that Finals run in 1999. But after he abruptly quit in 2001, Van Gundy was treated as persona non grata by owner James Dolan. For whatever reason last season, Van Gundy was introduced on the Jumbotron at the Garden for the first time since he left New York. Then in April, he participated in a ’99 reunion celebration on the Garden floor, along with Latrell Sprewell, Larry Johnson and other members of that squad. “It would be good to know that he was embraced here,” Stan Van Gundy said. “Honestly, like even when I’m here in town, people will say things to me. I think Jeff was