NEW YORK — Less than six months ago, the New York Knicks furiously overcame a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

It was a defining moment in their championship run.

So when the Knicks started making basket after basket, stop after stop, during Wednesday night’s fourth quarter against the Cavs, an air of inevitability hung over Madison Square Garden.

They appeared poised to come back again.

But while the Knicks did erase a 10-point deficit in Wednesday’s fourth quarter, this time, it wasn’t enough.

The Knicks fell, 115-107, to the Cavaliers, snapping a four-game winning streak and dropping the defending champions to 6-5 on the season.

The Knicks trailed 82-76 going into the fourth, and the Cavaliers increased their lead to 95-85 with 8:26 left in regulation.

But the Knicks caught fire from there, starting with a 3-pointer by Landry Shamet that kicked off a 14-4 run.

OG Anunonby followed with a 3-pointer of his own, and Josh Hart added lay-ups on back-to-back possessions to tie the score 99-99.

It was tied again, 101-101, when James Harden drilled a 3-pointer with 4:22 to go that gave the Cavs the lead for good.

A driving dunk by Jarrett Allen a little over two minutes later put Cleveland up by seven, serving as the dagger, while Peyton Watson’s chase-down block on a Miles “Deuce” McBride lay-up punctuated the Cavs’ victory.

In a throwback performance, the 37-year-old Harden led all scorers with 32 points on 9-of-14 shooting.

Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 27 points, while Karl-Anthony Towns contributed 21 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

The Knicks also got a huge boost from their bench, which scored 37 points — McBride had 19 and Shamet added 12.

But that wasn’t enough on a night the Cavs shot 15 of 38 on 3-pointers, and in which Mikal Bridges managed just two points and sat for the full fourth quarter for the Knicks.

The Cavaliers entered Wednesday in desperate need of a win, having dropped four of five games to fall to 5-6 on the season.

The Knicks, meanwhile, were on the second leg of a back-to-back, having defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 117-85 at the Garden less than 24 hours earlier.

Cleveland looked sharper early Wednesday, shooting 13-of-21 from the field in the first quarter, including 4 of 8 on 3-pointers. Tyrese Proctor scored eight points in the quarter, including a 3-pointer that put the Cavs up 33-21 with 31 seconds left.

But Towns helped bring the Knicks back in the second quarter. He scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the quarter, including a three-point play on a driving lay-up and later a 3-pointer that cut the Knicks’ deficit to 41-37.

Towns also dished out two assists in the quarter, while McBride gave the Knicks three 3-pointers off the bench.

The second of those 3-pointers tied the score, 43-43. The next one gave the Knicks a 49-47 lead with 4:10 to go before halftime.

But Harden answered with a 3-pointer on the Cavs’ next possession — a lead Cleveland would increase to 59-53 at the break. Harden scored 13 points on 4-of-4 shooting in the second quarter.

Brunson went into halftime with 13 points, while Towns had 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

But the Knicks got next to nothing from the rest of their starters. Anunoby, Hart and Bridges totaled three points on 1-of-8 shooting in the first half, with the latter two being held scoreless.

The Knicks evened the score multiple times in the third quarter, with a Brunson 3-pointer tying the game at 69-69 and another from McBride making it 74-74 with just under four minutes left.

However, the Knicks never managed to take the lead, and a 3-pointer by Mitchell on Cleveland’s final possession of the quarter put the Cavaliers up by six going into the fourth.

The Knicks had beaten the Cavaliers five games in a row, including their Eastern Conference finals sweep last postseason and Saturday’s 109-97 victory in Cleveland.

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