OK, Jose!
Let's show some love to the newest Knick who has fit like a glove.
Good morning! The Knicks visit the Bucks at 8pm, sans Giannis, who remains out. Milwaukee has been quite frisky lately, winning eight of their last 10 games to get back into the play-in race. As usual, we wait with bated breath to see which Knicks team shows up.
OK, Jose!
If Leon Rose’s goal for the trade deadline was to provide the Knicks with stability following a somewhat tumultuous season, the mission has not been accomplished.
Since the deadline, New York has:
Lost by 38 in Detroit, albeit with a shorthanded roster
Won by 22 in Boston
Lost in double overtime at home to the last place Pacers
Won by 49 in Philly
Lost by 15 at home to the Pistons
Came back from 18 down to beat the Rockets
Beat the winless-in-February Bulls after being down in the final minutes
Lost by 15 in Cleveland, at one point scoring just 16 points in 16 minutes of game action
Add it all up, and the Knicks have outscored their last eight opponents by exactly eight points in total. Better than being in the red!
The above stretch has engendered no shortage of strong emotions from the fan base, and as a result, the performance of one Knick in particular has gotten lost in that shuffle.
My favorite part of this clip is that after Jose Alvarado drops a dime to Mitchell Robinson, he immediately gets in position to pester the inbounds, and with good reason. Just a few moments earlier, he forced an inbounds violation on Adam Bona that led to the possession you see above. He was a one-man wrecking crew in Philadelphia, becoming the ninth player ever to accumulate eight made threes and five steals in an NBA game1.
But Alvarado’s re-acclimation to the city he calls home has been about a lot more than just one special night in Philly. Over the eight games Jose has worn orange and blue, the Knicks have outscored their opponents by 40 points in his 149 minutes and been outscored by 32 when he’s sat. That’s second best on the team during this stretch2.
