If early in the third quarter on Wednesday night — when Madison Square Garden was most miserable — you put $100 on the Knicks to come back and win Game 4 of the NBA Finals …

You still wouldn’t be rich enough to sit courtside with Spike, Timmy, Jerry and Taylor, but you could probably book a flight to San Antonio and land Game 5 tickets in the upper bowl.

That’s because the Knicks’ live odds to win got up as high as 22-1 on DraftKings Sportsbook early in that third quarter window.

The live betting handle was “huge,” DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello told The Athletic Thursday morning.

“Even though the game looked like it was out of reach for the Knicks and they probably couldn’t come back, the Knicks followers continued to stay on the team and bet on the team, knowing they’re capable of a comeback, they’ve done it before and they can do it again.

So that game banged up the sportsbooks a bit?

“I would say the [bettors] did well, Avello said. “Yes.”

ESPN’s win probability gave them a 0.4 percent chance — which, at a fair price, would be nearly 250 to 1 odds. But the sportsbooks need to protect themselves, and, as Avello explains, they have seen the Knicks do this — if not to this extent — before.

“Last night’s line is a little difficult to do, because the Knicks have this tendency to come back in a lot of games,”  Avello said. “And with a whole half to play, you know that whatever number you put up there, bettors are going to take it. Knicks being down 29 — that’s not an insurmountable lead where they can’t catch up.”

It was the type of game you’d consider turning off. Until Mike Breen reminds you the Knicks came back from a 22-point deficit with less than eight minutes left in their Eastern Conference finals opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers less than a month ago. In comparison, DraftKings’ odds at that point were 80 to 1.

Fun fact: the Knicks have turned a 20-point deficit into a win five times in their past 30 playoff games.

When it comes to betting, that resilient tendency affects the live lines.

At most sportsbooks, a computer constantly spits out live odds based on models. But there’s also a human trader actively monitoring the game and blending instinct with data.

For Fanatics Sportsbook, that was Colton Pettit on Wednesday night. Pettit, who got a master’s degree in business analytics at the University of Colorado before learning the job as a part-time trader, said high-profile events put more trusted traders in the seat — much like an NBA ref might earn officiating duties for a Finals game.

Pettit shared with The Athletic how his odds swung throughout the night.

The Knicks entered the game as -130 favorites at his book. A minute in, when Karl-Anthony Towns picked up his second foul, the adjustment was minimal, down to -125. Pettit was more focused on repricing backup center Mitchell Robinson’s props.

Late in the first quarter, Robinson, having already dented the rim with a pair of hopeless free-throw attempts, was called for a flagrant foul for elbowing Victor Wembanyama. The result: Wemby taunted Robinson and made his two free throws. The score was 39-20, and Fanatics now had the Knicks’ odds at +350.

After rookie Dylan Harper made three straight Spurs baskets and put his team ahead 71-42 late in the second quarter, the Knicks were +1900 underdogs. The number peaked at +2500 at Fanatics on De’Aaron Fox’s pull-up jumper to make the score 81-52 with 9:27 left in the third.

From there, the Knicks rallied and rallied, gradually reducing the odds until Jalen Brunson hit a 3-pointer with 2:21 left – shrinking the deficit to 105-104 and making the line even (-115 on both sides).

Several dramatic moments later, the Knicks were at +550, before OG Anunoby crashed Brunson’s missed three and tipped it in; they were -800 after that.

“It was a thrilling game, and a thrilling game to be [working],” said Pettit, who went to the gym afterward to come down from the high.

“The game ends, and all that adrenaline just stops. And it’s just over. And we’re kind of sitting there in silence for a few minutes. … Your heart is racing, and it doesn’t really stop for a while.” He estimates he went to sleep after 1 a.m. Mountain Time.

The Knicks are now -500 favorites at most sportsbooks to capture their first title since 1973. That also means the sportsbooks are further exposed on the futures markets. New York’s odds entering the playoffs might sound familiar: 22 to 1.

*Additional research provided for The Athletic by David Bearman and Neil Greenberg