Knicks' Jose Alvarado showcases talent on national stage in Game 4: 'He’s a big time player'
· Yahoo Sports
Just looking at his stat sheet, Jose Alvarado wouldn’t stand out as having a huge impact on the Knicks in their 107-106 win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night.
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But the game is played on the court, not on a piece of paper, and Alvarado’s contributions to his team on Wednesday were enough to make head coach Mike Brown give him a round of applause during his postgame news conference.
“Jose was unbelievable tonight. He changed the game,” Brown said. “His speed, his ability to touch the paint… if you don’t close out to Jose, as hard as he works on his shot, he’s gonna make you pay. If you close out to him, he’s quick enough to go by you and he made some great basketball plays offensively tonight. And then he was great defensively.”
Alvarado ended his night with eight points on 3-for-4 from the field (2-for-3 from deep) while adding three assists and two rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench. It was the most action the point guard has received during the playoffs and it came while New York was trailing and chipping away at its deficit.
Some of those minutes also came in the fourth quarter and were big minutes with the Knicks making their comeback attempt in a historic win. And even though Alvarado has been a solid player for New York since being traded during the regular season, most of his playing time has come either earlier in the game or with his team up big to give some of the stars some rest.
This time, Alvarado was right there alongside starters Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby in the final seconds of the game and spoke about playing in the fourth quarter of a tightly-contested NBA Finals game.
“Playing in the fourth quarter, that’s something, when you play this game, that’s when you want to play at,” he said. “Shout out to our bench… we all stepped up when our number was called and I’m glad we got the job done today.”
On a national stage, Alvarado was able to showcase what his teammates and the Knicks have already known for a while: that he’s a player who plays with energy, passion and love for the game.
As a Knicks fan growing up in Brooklyn, Alvarado’s coming out party happened in a game that New York won on an epic Anunoby tip-in, which was even more special for the 28-year-old who went undrafted out of college. He even said he almost started to cry after he saw the game-winner go in because it meant so much to him.
“Just to be part of the journey is amazing,” Alvarado said. “I appreciate coach [Brown] and everybody giving me my flowers, but this is what I worked hard for, to be in moments like this and it’s showing. I’m glad we got a win today and I’ll definitely remember this for the rest of my life.”
Alvarado getting the golden opportunity and running with it doesn’t come as a surprise to his teammates, who clearly love and respect him since he joined the team, not only because of his talent, but because of his hustle and the emotion he plays with every day.
In a sense, Alvarado embodies the city of New York as perfectly as anybody else on the team.
“He’s a special player,” Towns said. “His tenacity, his defensive ability and his offensive ability that I got to see first-hand… He has so much to his basketball game that people don’t give credit to and I’m glad at this stage and like this he was able to show the world what he can do when he’s given a chance.
“Jose Alvarado literally told everybody in the world tonight he’s a big time player.”