Knicks’ Big 3 grow together

OK, they’re not Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, or LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh for that matter. But the potential and abilities of the Knicks’ Big 3 alignment of Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Rose and Kristaps Porzingis are taking shape, coming into focus. And with them, so are the Knicks. And with the Knicks, so are playoff hopes.

“We’re getting there. We don’t know how good we can become,” Rose, speaking about the Big 3, said Wednesday after the Knicks practiced for their Thursday Garden date with Orlando.

But don’t rush into anything or jump to conclusions.

“You got to take one step at a time. Like it’s playoffs. Then in the playoffs, you got to take one game at a time,” said Rose, who practiced with no evidence of recent back woes. “The goal is the playoffs. Once we get in the playoffs we’re going to be a hell of a team to go against, like you don’t know what to expect from us in the playoffs. I think we’re going to be a dangerous team in the playoffs, but the first thing is to get there.”

Then anything can happen — except for maybe a surprise appearance by the 76ers.

“I think the East is wide open,” Anthony said. “Everybody’s bunched up right now. We win two games, we’re in third place. We lose two games, we’re in sixth, seventh, eighth. That’s the way it’s going to be. It’s going to be the team that strings some games together.”

Forming that string is not impossible with a trio like Anthony-Rose-Porzingis supported by fellow starters Courtney Lee and Joakim Noah, whose high-octane double-double in the 118-111 victory over Indiana on Tuesday showed what the Knicks anticipated. The bench is critical, but the trio resides at the core of everything.

“It always helps when you’ve got three rather than two,” said coach Jeff Hornacek, who referenced the slide endured with Rose out recently with back spasms. “When he was out it kind of threw that off a little bit.”

Rose missed four games, all but 10 minutes of a fifth, denying the Knicks his attack and clutch-shot modes. The 15-13 Knicks were 1-4 in those games.

Rose played Tuesday and along with Anthony and Porzingis, was front and center as the Knicks overcame a 15-point second-half deficit. The Knicks are 10-4 at the Garden, which is back to its old raucous ways, and Rose appreciates it.

“I just want to win here. Winning is everything here, I think not only for myself but for the franchise, for the city,” said Rose, who indicated in Chicago, Bulls fans expected his MVP form every night and were less appreciative than Knicks fans seem. “It’s good that I know we’re going to get to the point where we’re going to bring some Knicks fans back to us.”

Hey, they actually have celebrities on Celebrity Row again, not just the fifth zombie killed in episode three, season four on “The Walking Dead.”

So to rework an old phrase from Knicks lore, the ship no longer be sinking and the sky’s the limit.

“I don’t want to put that on us at this point,” Anthony said. “Still trying to work some things out. ... We are playing good basketball. Some of the games we’ve been losing, it’s not something we can’t correct or something we won’t correct. But I do think we’re on the upswing.

“Everybody wants to get to the playoffs. But with this team and the talent we have, we have the opportunity to do something special and solidify our self as one of the top seeds in the East. But we have to work on some things and get better.”