Jose Alvarado played an integral role in the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history. His hometown New York Knicks clawed all the way back from a 29-point deficit against the San Antonio Spurs to take a 3-1 series lead at Madison Square Garden. And he was on the court to help make it happen.
Alvarado contributed on both ends, the result of several masterclasses by himself, Mike Brown, Leon Rose, William Wesley, and the Knicks' entire front office. Objectively, the guard lacks size and fell out of his team's rotation ahead of the first round of the postseason.
But everything he did on the court showed exactly why he was on it. Alvarado is responsible for his role in the most pivotal moments of the last 53 years of Knicks history. But the way he got there from a coaching and roster construction perspective? Just more feathers in the caps of the Knick braintrust.
Rose, Brown, etc. made way for Alvarado's crucial part in Knicks history
Head coach Mike Brown's willingness to trust in a small guard late, as opposed to his usual starting and closing lineup, deserves credit. That's the kind of credit that he, Rose, Wesley, and rest of the Knicks' decision-makers can take for the success of the 6-foot Boricuan Brooklynite.
Their decision to move on from Tom Thibodeau, who led them to more success than any other coach in decades, was widely questioned and criticized. It led directly to their choice of Brown, the coach that went with the Knicks' midseason acquisition over usual starter Mikal Bridges.
There are front offices that would be livid the wing, one they traded five first-round picks for, was on the bench. The Knicks don't have one of those.
Their biggest acquisition ahead of this season was Brown. On the court, though, it was Frenchman Guerschon Yabusele. The big man wasn't a fit in Brown's system, and teams around the league knew it. They were reportedly unwilling to take on his player option for the 2026-27 season, worth over $4 million.
Rose's front office still found a way to make everything work. They made Yabusele aware of the situation, from all angles, and found a solution that got the center playing time. After he waived his player option, he made it onto the Chicago Bulls' roster.
Hours after trading him to the Bulls, they flipped Dalen Terry to the New Orleans Pelicans for one of Wednesday night's biggest heroes. Alvarado arrived at the perfect time to bring his intensity, and grit, to a Knicks locker room that needed both.
And even though he fell out of Brown's rotation as the coach geared up for the postseason, he stayed ready for any moment in which his name was called. His ball handling ability, one of the biggest reasons the Knicks traded for him in the first place, proved invaluable against the Spurs.
The Knicks trusted two undersized guards to help save their season. The initial acquisitions of both are immense credits to the team's front office. The optics of playing Alvarado over Bridges were subpar. History itself had proven the risks of playing two small guards in such a big moment, especially against such physical and lengthy defenders.
But the players that Alvarado and Brunson are, not regardless of their size but rather directly because of it, were the exact kinds that the Knicks needed to make history. It makes sense that nobody saw their victory coming; nobody has ever seen a team like these Knicks.
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