SAN ANTONIO — Jose Alvarado’s first thought when Jalen Brunson hobbled off the court and went to the locker room echoed what every Knicks fan was thinking.
“He better come back,” Alvardo recalled of the development early in Wednesday’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Then his instincts took over.
“My second thought is, this is what I do. I wasn’t scared of the moment,” the backup Knicks point guard said Thursday. “This is something I live for, and I just want to take advantage of it and do what the team needs.”
Alvarado was part of another strong effort from the Knicks bench, their reserves piling up 28 points on 11-of-25 shooting in a 105-95, come-from-behind win over the Spurs.
There were major contributions from Mitchell Robinson (six rebounds), Landry Shamet (13 points) and Miles McBride (six points, four assists, plus-11 rating).
Alvarado was critical, tallying seven points and four rebounds in the first half while Brunson was getting his knee checked out. He was the first Knick to really challenge Victor Wembanyama, and he drew a goaltending call on the 7-foot-4 superstar.
“I don’t fear nobody,” Alvarado said. “He’s a great player, he’s going to block shots regardless of what you do. That one went my way.”
The quality of the second unit is the biggest difference between this year’s Knicks and the edition that lost in the Eastern Conference finals a year ago.
It has been evident throughout the postseason, but particularly in the conference semifinals against the 76ers, when OG Anunoby suffered a mild hamstring strain. McBride and Shamet emerged in his absence. The group has also enabled the starters to stay fresh.
The Knicks bench is seventh in points per game and eighth in minutes among the 16 teams to qualify for the playoffs.
A year ago, the unit was 15th in both categories. They aren’t nearly as reliant on the starters.
“Opportunity was the main thing,” McBride said when asked what coach Mike Brown has done well with developing the second unit. “He’s putting a lot of guys in different spots and he’s just allowing us to be us. We can play at a high level. I feel like a lot of guys can be starters at different places. We’re all happy here, we’re happy to impact the game at such a high level.”