A ninth-seeded Bulls team expected to pull the plug at the half and protect their starters for the Play-In Tournament pulled an about face and trotted their best players back onto the floor, trailing by just three points coming out of the halftime break.

The Bulls outscored the Knicks, 35-26, in the third quarter and led by as many as eight points before the Knicks came storming back with a decisive fourth quarter to force the extra period of action.

Here’s how things shook out with the other playoff or Play-In Tournament-bound teams in the East on Sunday afternoon:

No. 4 Cleveland sat All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland in a 10-point loss to the lottery-bound Charlotte Hornets. The Cavaliers will now face the No. 5 Orlando Magic in the first round

No. 6 Indiana pulverized No. 10 Atlanta, 157-115

No. 7 Philadelphia put the lottery-bound Nets through a buzzsaw despite Joel Embiid watching from the sidelines

And the No. 8 Miami Heat secured a 15-point victory over the Toronto Raptors

The No. 7-seed 76ers and No. 8 Heat will now compete in the Play-In Tournament’s seven-eight game. The winner will advance to play the Knicks in the first round.

And while the Knicks hold home-court advantage, the Sixers employ one of the league’s most dominant players in Embiid — and the Heat are the very team responsible for eliminating the Knicks in the second round last season.

The Heat are a team capable of shifting into playoff gear on a moment’s notice.

Now, it’s out of the Knicks’ hands. They’ve put themselves in the best possible position this season, having battled through injuries to attain the second-best seeding in their conference.

A chance to one-up last season’s finish awaits, and while Julius Randle (shoulder surgery) isn’t walking through the Madison Square Garden doors, the Knicks are forging forward with full belief in what they have.

Because so far, what they have had, as Tom Thibodeau has maintained, is more than enough to get the job done.

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