The New York Knicks desperately need a win on Wednesday night to avoid seeing this series get tied up at 2-2 and, in turn, giving the Spurs new life.
While many may believe leaning on star talents like Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns is the answer, ultimately, a win will likely come as a result of the contributions of the club's backups, with Jose Alvarado arguably being the biggest X-factor of them all.
So far in this year's NBA Finals, Brunson has been a net-negative when on the hardwood, sporting a plus-minus of minus-4.3 in his 36.7 minutes per night.
Clearly, the solution to this unforeseen predicament is not to pull the cornerstone guard from the lineup, nor even to play him less. Instead, it's to absolutely dominate during the minutes he's taking a breather on the bench or during spells where he's used more as a decoy while on the court.
Alvarado is more than capable of helping on this front.
Knicks must run with Jose Alvarado during non-Jalen Brunson minutes
After receiving sporadic minutes of action through the first three rounds of the postseason, the mid-season trade acquisition finds himself coming alive for the Knicks on the biggest stage of his young career.
Through these first three games against San Antonio, Alvarado finds himself serving as a silent assassin.
While he may not be lighting up the scoreboard (4.3 points per night), thanks to his elite defensive skills and up-tempo playstyle, he currently registers third in plus-minus (plus-6.7) and second in net rating (25.2).
Both his ability to lead the charge out on the break and willingness to get scrappy on the less glamorous side of the ball are what truly make him one of this team's most effective tone-setters.
Most importantly, his presence on the floor shockingly directly impacts the likes of Victor Wembanyama, as he's not only proven capable of facing off against him on the defensive end in the same vein as Alex Caruso (mainly when found near the perimeter), but has not shied away from attacking him off the dribble when on offense.
On top of this, the Spurs have regularly shipped Wembanyama to the pine when Brunson is taking a breather and, as has been proven all postseason long, they've been incredibly inefficient with their wunderkind pivot off the court.
All things considered, the more this Knicks team uses Alvarado, be it as JB's direct replacement or simply as a change-of-pace spark plug, the more success the team has had.
Moving forward, coach Mike Brown needs to fully embrace the importance of Alvarado's playing time, for only positive effects have come from his on-court presence as a result.
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