BOSTON — Jose Alvarado officially arrived at the end of the third quarter.
The newest Knick was on defense and switched onto Celtics star Jaylen Brown, who saw the size mismatch and tried to back Alvarado into the paint.
Alvarado, generously listed at 6 feet, didn’t give an inch. He took the contact, waited for Brown to turn for a shot, stripped the ball clean and gave the Knicks bench a hometown flex. It was Alvarado’s first steal with the Knicks and the highlight of a successful debut, an 111-89 victory over the rival Celtics in Sunday’s pre-Super Bowl matinee.
Jose Alvarado #5 of the Knicks knocks the ball away from Payton Pritchard #11 of the Celtics during the second quarter on Feb. 8, 2026. Getty Images
The transition for Alvarado was seamless. At least in Game 1.
“It just feels like it was meant to be,” Alvarado, the Brooklyn product, said. “It feels like I’ve been part of it for a while, even though it was the first game. Like it felt like nothing. It felt like home. It felt like it was supposed to happen this way.
“And I’m glad I did.”
Alvarado finished with 12 points, two steals and six deflections in 25 minutes on 5-for-12 shooting. His other steal — this time in the fourth quarter — was also splendid. He airballed a 3-pointer from the corner, recovered to sneak behind Brown for a strip, then buried a layup before yelling at the Celtics bench.
Welcome to the Alvarado experience.
“[People on the Celtics bench] basically said, ‘You’re going to miss.’ And I said, ‘That’s how you get it back, you know what I’m saying?’ ” Alvarado said. “Who cares about the miss if you get it back.”
The 27-year-old ball of energy arrived as advertised, providing a feisty defensive presence to muck up the game and help Jalen Brunson, who pummeled the Celtics with 31 points in 33 minutes.
Jose Alvarado #5 of the New York Knicks drives to the basket against the Celtics on Feb. 8, 2026. NBAE via Getty Images
“That’s him,” Josh Hart said of Alvarado, who was earmarked by Mike Brown for 22 minutes but expanded it to 25. “He’s a really good on-ball defender, takes the challenge of being a great secondary ball handler for us, being able to playmake, get into the paint, handle pressure, so what you got from Jose today is the player he is.”
The victory moved the Knicks (34-19) into a tie with the Celtics (34-19) for second in the East.
And it was an impressive way to bounce back, especially without OG Anunoby (sore toe).
The Knicks were coming off a disheartening blowout defeat Friday to the conference-leading Pistons, who squeezed the breath out of New York’s offense.
It didn’t take long for it to come back to life in Boston. The Knicks scored 35 points in the first quarter, with Brunson contributing 15.
What’s happening on and off the Garden court
Sign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.
Thank you
The Celtics cut the deficit to four early in the second half, but they never regained the lead after the first quarter.
“Our group is resilient,” coach Mike Brown said. “Sometimes like in Detroit, that happens. None of us like it. None of us want to go through it. Give Detroit a lot of credit, but we know it’s not who we are.
“We played a lot better than that. We will. But I do think this group is resilient because they’ve shown time and time again after tough losses or multiple losses playing the next game usually doing a pretty good job of playing again.”
Plus, they have a new plucky defensive guard to help.
“Obviously [my teammates] know my passion is defense and they trust in me and believe in me and they let me be myself,” Alvarado said. “They keep saying go out there and be yourself and everything will go the way we need it to go.”
In Boston, that’s exactly what happened.