Jose Alvarado arguably has been the biggest surprise of this first-round series.
He appeared to be out of coach Mike Brown’s playoff rotation ahead of the postseason.
He did not play in Game 1.
By now, he has firmly reestablished a role.
He played 12 minutes and recorded 12 points in the Knicks’ 126-97 Game 5 win over the Hawks at the Garden.
Seven of those points came during a key six-minute stretch to start the second quarter, when the Knicks padded their lead and pulled away.
“It’s just part of the business: stay ready,” Alvarado said. “Whatever the team needs. We’re a really good team. They communicated with how it was gonna go. Just stay ready, that’s what I did mentally.”
Brown previously explained that, because Landry Shamet and Miles McBride struggled as backup point guards earlier in the series, he gave Alvarado a shot to have a more natural point guard on the floor. He has rewarded Brown for that decision.
Alvarado’s spotty 3-point shooting had become a weakness and was the primary reason he was not in the rotation at the end of the regular season. But he went 2-for-3 from deep Tuesday.
“My teammates found me,” Alvarado said. “I was open and then I made the shots today.”
Josh Hart subbed out with 6:27 left in the fourth quarter, went to the locker room and did not return.
Earlier in the game, he had been holding his back in a bit of pain after a hard fall.
The Knicks did not have an update postgame.
Mikal Bridges remained in the starting lineup as expected, but he was the first Knicks starter to get subbed out, with Miles McBride replacing him with 5:49 left in the first quarter.
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The Knicks led by one at the time. But by the end of the quarter, they led by 13.
Bridges finished plus-11. McBride was plus-19.
CJ McCollum, during the fourth quarter, again kicked Jalen Brunson in the midsection while taking a jump shot.
Brunson grabbed at the area briefly but did not go down to the ground in pain like he did in Game 1.
Afterward, Brunson said, “I don’t make anything of it.”
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