Jose Alvarado shines on both ends in Knicks debut vs. Celtics

BOSTON — Jose Alvarado fired a ball on a corner three. Then he picked Jaylen Brown’s pocket with one of his backcourt steals before finishing the game with a transition layup — and some words for the Celtics bench.

“[Boston’s bench] Basically, I was going to miss it. And I said, “That’s how you get it back,” you know what I’m saying? he explained after his debut with the Knicks ended in unequivocal success. “Who cares about the miss if you pick it up on the back tip and make a layup? And that worked in my favor.

Alvarado, whom the Knicks acquired from the New Orleans Pelicans after trading Guerschon Yabusele to the Chicago Bulls, scored 12 points in 25 minutes on 5-of-12 shooting from the floor in New York’s 111-89 win over the Celtics on Sunday. He finished the game with two interceptions on the night. The Knicks had 18 deflections as a team against the Celtics, and Alvarado alone accounted for six of them.

“At the start of the match, I had it around 22, 23 [minutes] and he ended up playing 25,” head coach Mike Brown said after the game. “He was really good for us.”

The Knicks have used Alvarado in a variety of ways, including in spurts as a primary defender in Boston’s two-pronged offense of All-Star starter Jaylen Brown and sixth man Payton Pritchard. Brown scored 26 points but shot 11 of 25 from the field to get there, and Pritchard had just six points, 11 fewer than his season average, on just one of six three-pointers.

“Obviously they know my passion is defense, and they know they trust me and believe in me and let me be myself,” he said after his debut. “They keep saying, go ahead and be yourself and everything works out the way we want it to.”

“Pritchard is a great player, obviously not on the level of Jaylen Brown, but to have someone like Jose guarding Pritchard, he’s going to have work for everything he does when you have a guy like Jose on him,” the Knicks coach added. “Jose was good for us on both ends of the floor.”

The Knicks outscored the Celtics by 13 points in Alvarado’s 25 minutes on the floor. They will continue to rely on his production on both ends of the court, with Miles McBride expected to miss significant time – potentially the remainder of the regular season – after undergoing surgery to repair a core muscle injury.

“What helps us is his ability to play pick and roll. He gives us different looks because he’s so quick with the ball. In the paint, you saw him, he got into the paint and made the game easier for other players. When you have a guy that fast and with a low center of gravity, it’s tough,” Mike Brown said after the win. “He’s been good for us offensively and defensively, he’s been really good too. He’s able to compete with some of the quicker guys with the ball.”

Alvarado takes things one game at a time.

“It’s been great, man. We’ve just got a good flow going. Obviously, I’m still learning the plays, the guys, everything that’s going on,” he said. “They make it easy. They say to be myself, so it just takes a little rhythm. The first one is good to get out of the way and keep improving.”

Alvarado said he was happy to once again find himself in a winning situation. The Pelicans went 21-61 last season and were 14-40 entering Super Bowl Sunday, well out of contention for a spot in the Play-In tournament, let alone the playoffs. He now finds himself playing key minutes on a Knicks team playing under ownership to at least win, if not win outright, the NBA Finals this season.

“We had some great years there in New Orleans, but obviously this year wasn’t the best,” he said. “So it’s always love and support for [the Pelicans]but it’s obviously a competing team. So you want to win and obviously intensity and attention to detail is important here.

Josh Hart is happy to reunite with Alvarado, who was one of his rookies for 41 games in New Orleans before a trade sent him to the Portland Trail Blazers in 2022. He said what Knicks fans see from their new guard is what they can expect him to bring the rest of the way.

“I saw during the games when I was [in New Orleans]. “That’s him,” Hart said. “He’s a very good defender with the ball, he takes on the challenge of being a great secondary ball handler for us, he’s able to make plays, get in the paint, handle pressure, so what you got from Jose today is the player he is.”