Jose Alvarado was surrounded by microphones in the bowels of Madison Square Garden but spoke like he was still on the streets of Brooklyn.
He spoke with loyalty toward Jalen Brunson, the recipient of a Game 3 cheap shot from Victor Wembanyama. He spoke without fear of the Spurs’ 7-foot-4 superstar, who stands at least 17 inches taller and outweighs him by at least 75 pounds.
“He got away with that one,” Alvarado said before Game 4 of the NBA Finals. “That’ll be the last one.”
Alvarado then backed it up in the best imaginable way. The boy who grew up a Knicks fan in Brooklyn became a franchise legend Wednesday night in Manhattan, stepping in for the struggling Mikal Bridges down the stretch and producing all of his eight points, three assists and two rebounds in the final 10 minutes of the Knicks’ record-setting 29-point comeback that resulted in a miraculous 107-106 win over the Spurs.
“I’m glad on this stage, on a night like this, he was able to show the world what he can do when he’s given a chance,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “And Jose Alvarado clearly told everyone in the world tonight he’s a big-time player.”
The Knicks acquired Alvarado, 28, from New Orleans on Feb. 5, hoping his experience and contagious energy would be the final piece to a championship team.
Now, they are one win from the team’s first title in 53 years.
“He checked into the game and changed the game,” Landry Shamet said. “That’s when things really started to shift. He’s a spark. The energy he brings for us … he was ready to go and stepped in and made some huge plays for us.”
Before the fourth quarter, Alvarado’s only impact on the game came when he deliberately took out Wembanyama’s legs in the second quarter. Still, Brown turned to the once-undrafted guard with 9:46 to play and the Knicks trailing 93-75.
Alvarado offered hope with a 3-pointer on his first touch. He then assisted Towns on a 3-pointer, grabbed a rebound, then dished to OG Anunoby for a 3-pointer, bringing the Knicks within four with 4:34 to play.
Alvarado followed with a pretty spin move and finish in the lane, a 3-pointer with 3:07 remaining and an assist on a Jalen Brunson 3-pointer to put the Knicks down one with 2:21 remaining before grabbing a De’Aaron Fox miss with 10 seconds left, setting up Anunoby’s all-time tip-in.
“I was about to cry, not because — obviously there is one more, but … I’m at Madison Square Garden, end of the fourth quarter, playing with these guys, and we’re playing for something special,” Alvarado said. “It’s really something. I couldn’t put it in words.”
Alvarado is New York, a nonstop motor in a 6-foot frame, unafraid of the spotlight, unfazed by pressure.
When the postseason began, his role was unclear. Brown didn’t take him off the bench in the first-round opener against the Hawks, then played Alvarado single-digit minutes in nine of 13 games despite the Knicks’ numerous blowouts.
But Alvarado earned more time when the NBA Finals began, putting up seven points and four rebounds in 11 minutes in Game 1. In Game 3, he provided an early spark off the bench by quickly recording four points and three rebounds.
In Game 4, he became a legend of the team he always loved.
“Ain’t no other guy like him,” Mitchell Robinson said. “He’s like a little pest out there, doing his thing.”
