Alvarado was used by coach Mike Brown for significant minutes to help spark the team\u2019s defensive revival down the stretch, finishing with eight points, five steals and a plus-18 rating over 20 minutes off the bench, even earning Jos\u00e9 Reyes-style chants of \u201cJose, Jose, Jose\u201d from the appreciative crowd.<\/p>\n
![\"Jose](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Jose-Alvarado-2-4.jpg\")
Jose Alvarado celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer during the Knicks\u2019 108-106 comeback win over the Rockets on Feb. 21, 2026 at the Garden. Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always gonna [feel] amazing. It\u2019s kind of like a pride thing I got,\u201d Alvarado said after the game.\u201cIt\u2019s like when I play for my national team [Puerto Rico] or my country, I\u2019m playing for my hometown, and I\u2019m always gonna have to represent on another level, and just compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alvarado\u2019s New York roots and gritty two-way playing style figured to endear him immediately to the MSG crowds following a trade-deadline acquisition from the Pelicans.<\/p>\n
The undrafted five-year veteran\u2019s best of his first four appearances in a Knicks uniform easily was a 26-point eruption in 19 minutes \u2014 on 8-for-13 shooting from 3-point range \u2014 in Wednesday\u2019s road win over the 76ers. Alvarado also managed 12 points on 5-for-12 shooting (2-for 6 from deep) in a win in Boston in his team debut.<\/p>\n
That represents a sharp contrast for the Christ the King High School product\u2019s first two home games since his acquisition, with just 10 total points on 4-for-13 shooting, including 0-for-8 from beyond the arc. The backup point guard, known as \u201cGrand Theft Alvarado,\u201d also totaled seven steals in the two road victories and just one in two home defeats.<\/p>\n
![\"Jose](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Jose-Alvarado-4.jpg\")
Jose Alvarado celebrates with the fans after making a bucket during the second half of the Knicks\u2019 comeback win over the Rockets. Robert Sabo for New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cJust getting a real rhythm,\u201d Alvarado said earlier this week. \u201cLike I\u2019ve said, it just comes with spending time with the guys and being around them and slowly getting it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019re passing that, we\u2019re in rhythm now so we\u2019ve got a good stretch ahead of us and we\u2019re trying to do something special here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jalen Brunson was on the bench, and the Knicks were down by 16 to start the fourth, but 3-pointers by Landry Shamet, Karl-Anthony Towns and Alvarado plus a putback slam by Mikal Bridges pulled the Knicks within six with about seven minutes to play.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelivering insights on all things Amazin\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\u201cSometimes it\u2019s not gonna be shots falling and you gotta do the little things, get steals, and do that,\u201d Alvarado said. \u201cBut it\u2019s always gonna be a different type of motor when I put that jersey on. I\u2019m from here, and I gotta represent the best way I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alvarado then cut the deficit to two with a strip of Kevin Durant and a layup before Brunson eventually tied it with 1:27 remaining.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Assistant coach] Rick Brunson was the one that suggested throwing Jose in the game at the time, which was the right call,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe threw Jose in, and he gave us a spark on both ends of the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Jose Alvarado\u2019s first four games with the Knicks, his offensive splits were much better in the two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,11053,304,6,1136,191,3810,3806,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-617569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-jose-alvarado","10":"tag-knicks","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-knicks","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkknicks","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116113843580203137","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}