ATLANTA — Update: The New York Knicks are serious. Very serious.

Could the Knicks do it again? 

That’s what I asked, and many fans wondered, as New York went into Game 6 after two convincing wins over the Atlanta Hawks to come back and take a 3-2 series lead. This team’s focus fluttered from week to week during the regular season. So did its attention to detail.

If the playoffs had trap games, Thursday’s felt like one. To avoid it, the Knicks’ Jekyll-and-Hyde nature needed to adopt whichever persona would put Atlanta to sleep.

What New York ended up doing should have put the entire roster and coaching staff in handcuffs. It was beyond dominance. It was an annihilation.

The Knicks led 40-15 after the first quarter — it should be mentioned that Atlanta had a 9-0 run in the game’s first 12 minutes. The Knicks led 60-19 at one point. By the end, New York beat the Hawks so badly (140-89) that Pacôme Dadiet and Ariel Hukporti played a combined 20 minutes in a postseason game.

“It was huge for us because, like I said, we feel like we gave two games away,” Josh Hart said. “We wanted to come out with a great attention to detail and focus from the jump. I feel like our starts have been pretty good this series, and we wanted to set a tone from the beginning.”

New York doesn’t feel like the clear-cut favorite to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals just because it beat the Hawks, who aren’t as good as the six-game series suggested. It feels that way because Karl-Anthony Towns has mastered an offense that he tussled with all season.

The irony.

It feels that way because Hart is defending at an NBA All-Defensive Team level. It feels that way because OG Anunoby might be the best two-way player on the planet right now. It feels that way because Jalen Brunson still might be the best pound-for-pound scorer in basketball.

In addition, head coach Mike Brown seems to have a better understanding of his team. It took three games into the playoffs for that to happen, but he pushed all the right buttons after pushing the wrong ones, which played a big part in his team facing a 2-1 series deficit.

Brown said the Knicks changed their offense in the postseason. He dusted off players who hadn’t played much toward the end of the regular season and benched ones who had. He and his staff got the best out of New York when its back was against the wall.

“Quin (Snyder) and his staff helped us get better,” Brown said. “I think they would say the same about us. Quin pushed a lot of the right buttons, and their team did, too. It kept making us figure out how we could help our guys be better. I appreciate that.”

In a wild East, the Knicks currently feel the most stable.

Think about it. The Boston Celtics have blown a 3-1 lead and now have to beat the Philadelphia 76ers in a Game 7 to advance. Maybe Philadelphia is legit, but it’s hard to believe that a team with health issues for the greater part of a decade will remain whole if it were to advance.

The top-seeded Detroit Pistons have to beat the Orlando Magic two more times before we put them back in the conversation as a legit East contender. The Cleveland Cavaliers are struggling with the Toronto Raptors, whose offense can hurt the eyes if you watch it for too long.

New York has won its last three games by a combined 96 points. No team in the playoffs has demolished an opponent to that degree. The defense is legitimately good. The offense has so many weapons. The Knicks are clicking on all cylinders and, at the very least, it’s boosted their confidence after a rocky postseason start.

The East, more than the West, always felt more up for grabs entering this postseason.

The Celtics seemed the universal favorite, but their willingness to live and die by the 3 makes them vulnerable. It hurt them last postseason. It’s hurting them again this postseason.

The Knicks can beat you in different ways. They can play through Towns. They can play through Brunson. Anunoby is having the best stretch of his career as a shooter. Hart has ripped away egos as a defender. New York isn’t a one-trick pony.

“I think, most importantly, (a performance like this) shows us what we’re capable of defensively,” said Brunson, whose team ranked No. 6 in defense from Jan. 1 until the end of the regular season. “That’s really important. We still have a long road to travel, so staying locked in and knowing what we’re capable of is really important.”

The Knicks haven’t appeared in an NBA Finals since 1999. They haven’t won an NBA championship since 1973. A lot has to go right for both droughts to end, but ending the former feels within reach.

It’s hard to look at this New York team and not think, right now, that it’s flirting with perfection. It has the wings who can score and defend. It has players who can be considered the best players in a series, no matter the opponent. It has the defenders to stifle other teams’ best players. It has an advantage against most teams inside.

Even the bench seems capable of holding a lead when the starters are sitting. The coach continues to have a better pulse on his team and what works best for it.

We’re at a point where it feels as if New York is its own worst enemy, and even that logic is starting to feel shaky. The individual talent has always been there, but now it’s starting to look like a team. A real team.

The Knicks should come out of the East. They’re playing their best basketball at the right time — only the 76ers can say the same thing, and they still have to win one more game.