The Knicks’ big bets are paying off, and it has them on the verge of dethroning the Celtics

NEW YORK — “Obviously, we want to take the next step. We want to be better than we were last year.”That was the gauntlet Jalen Brunson threw down at the Knicks’ media day session in September — the challenge facing an organization that had seen its most successful season in decades run aground amid a hail of injuries in the seventh game of the second round and entered the offseason searching for the roster-management answer that would propel New York to the NBA&rsqu