NBA ALL-STAR RISING STARS

February 17, 2023

Jose Alvarado

Team Pau

Press Conference

Q. Jose, first of all, is your game catered to an All-Star type of atmosphere?

JOSE ALVARADO: I mean, yeah. I'm from New York. That's how I feel, like it's an All-Star every time we play in the park. So, it was just an atmosphere I enjoy. I think I just played Jose basketball.

Q. Just another notch to your story. You come in the league undrafted. You're sharing the court with No. 3 pick, No. 2 pick. Just what does it mean to you to be included with the guys that I guess got more recognition coming into the league?

JOSE ALVARADO: It's dope. We went in that locker room, and we didn't look at no numbers. We just came in and said we're on the same team, let's go win this. I think everybody was on the same board. I think we had a great group, and I'm happy they're my teammates and we won.

Q. What can you tell your Latin fan base about playing in the Rising Stars and winning MVP?

JOSE ALVARADO: Oh, man. Shout out to them. They showed so much love. I’ve seen the billboards. Thank you, and I appreciate them so much. I can't wait to go back to P.R. [Puerto Rico] and all around and show so much love to them.

Q. Can you tell us something about your Mexican heritage? Is it true that you have Mexican relatives?

JOSE ALVARADO: Yes. My mom is Puerto Rican and Mexican, and my daughters are half. They're Puerto Rican and Mexican. So, yeah, we're a Mexican family. We're all over.

Q. Just three years ago you were at Georgia Tech playing against Morehouse College, and now you're the MVP of the Rising Stars Game. How do you contextualize that from where you came from?

JOSE ALVARADO: I really can't put into words. I think this is just something like -- hold on. I'm talking. I'd be lying if I say I had this in my mind. I believe in myself 100 percent. I believe in myself out of this world, but this is something I didn't even think of or even dream of. For me to just do this and accomplish this from the Georgia Tech days and all that, it just built in my journey.

Q. Jose, I couldn't even get into my seat before you had a full court inbounds steal. It's just no mercy with you.

JOSE ALVARADO: No, no.

Q. Where does that come from?

JOSE ALVARADO: Just being myself, I think. But our team set the precedent. We were going to go out there and try to win. We weren’t going to try to be too cool because people -- there is a game that you want to show your skills and stuff like that, but we wanted to enjoy all this, enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy the winning and going out there and say we did something.

Q. Can you describe your defense on [Quentin] Grimes going down the stretch? You didn't know if that was legal.

JOSE ALVARADO: It might have not been, but, man, he was shooting. He was doing good. We had a game.

If he stayed in there, they probably would have won the game. They put me on him, so then they missed a few shots, and we win.