The New York Knicks are riding  high after pulling off the most dominant playoff win in recent memory, but one New York star believes that their confidence came way before that.

It was a hard fought battle for the Knicks to take down the Atlanta Hawks in six games, but they capped it off with a 140-89 blowout to truly put an exclamation point on what was a thriller of a series. 

It's natural for the Knicks to feel good about themselves after such a win, but it's also worth noting that this was just the first round of the playoffs and there are plenty more games to come before a championship can even be in sight. 

Still, the Knicks look like the premier team in the Eastern Conference side of the playoff bracket. There are still the Detroit Pistons, but they're worn down after outlasting the Orlando Magic in a seven game series and there's the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had to do the same after taking down the Toronto Raptors in seven games.

There's also the Philadelphia 76ers, who overcame a 3-1 deficit to beat the Boston Celtics.  Philadelphia is slated to the be the Knicks' next opponent. 

Though looking at the field that remains and taking New York's dominance of Atlanta into account, it would be easy to think that the Knicks have a clear path to the NBA Finals and have plenty of reasons from their series against the Hawks to feel confident.

But, Karl-Anthony Towns knows that feeling that way is a trap and that while momentum from past games is great, belief needs to come from within, independent of the noise.

"I would hope that when we step on the court against anybody we feel that we can beat anybody," Towns said (via SNY). "Those games shouldn't be the reason we have confidence. We should have confidence because we put the work in... I feel like our confidence was built way before the game was played."

The playoffs are a test of belief and that's certainly what Towns. Throughout this postseason, he's trusted in the work that he's personally put in behind the scenes and now he's doing the same for his team.

The way that the Knicks own against the Hawks was a great accomplishment in and of itself, but it's also a building block for the work that still needs to be done. Towns and the Knicks know that and they're prepared to keep this success going.