{"id":85163,"date":"2024-07-08T12:20:38","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T16:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=85163"},"modified":"2024-07-08T12:21:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T16:21:50","slug":"olympics-pelicans-defensive-menace-jose-alvarado-hero-puerto-rico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/08\/olympics-pelicans-defensive-menace-jose-alvarado-hero-puerto-rico\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelicans\u2019 Defensive Menace Plays Olympic Hero for Puerto Rico"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New Orleans Pelicans guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/alvarjo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jose Alvarado<\/a> may not have entered the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/02\/18-nba-prospects-to-watch-during-2024-fiba-olympics-qualifying-tournament\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Olympic Qualifying Tournament<\/a> as a headliner but he\u2019ll leave it as one. Playing for Puerto Rico\u2019s senior national team, Alvarado scored a team-high 23 points and was tied for the team lead in rebounds (6) and steals (2) in the final round of the FIBA Olympic Qualifiers.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Jose Alvarado scores 23 points to lead Puerto Rico to secure their ticket to Paris and earn <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TCL_Brand?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TCL_Brand<\/a> Player of the Game! <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FIBAOQT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#FIBAOQT<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xZjTpFPVks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/xZjTpFPVks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 FIBA (@FIBA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FIBA\/status\/1810114217439080947?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Facing an experienced Lithuanian team led by Sacramento Kings star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sabondo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Domantas Sabonis<\/a>, underdog Puerto Rico pulled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fiba.basketball\/en\/events\/fiba-olympic-qualifying-tournament-2024-san-juan-puerto-rico\/games\/121115-LTU-PUR\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">out an 11-point victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Pelicans\u2019 Jose Alvarado Plays Olympic Hero for Puerto Rico<\/h2>\n<p>Alvarado wasn\u2019t alone, with former NBA guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/watertr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tremont Waters<\/a> adding 18 points and two steals. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reedda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Davon Reed<\/a>, who has an \u2018on-again off-again\u2019 relationship with the NBA, notched a pair of steals himself. Nonetheless, \u2018GTA\u2019 was the driving force behind Puerto Rico\u2019s success in the back half of the tournament. Indeed, before he lit up Lithuania, Alvarado sliced up Italy\u2019s defense. In fact, he was even better that game, tallying 29 points and three steals while shooting 7-10 from 3.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">29 PTS \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf7 10\/15 FG \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf7 27 MIN<\/p>\n<p>Jose Alvarado CAUGHT FIRE for Puerto Rico! He scored a game-high to lead his team to victory over Italy in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FIBAOQT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#FIBAOQT<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/T0W6BetPdC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/T0W6BetPdC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA G League (@nbagleague) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nbagleague\/status\/1809254412180701632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 5, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Due to those performances, Alvarado was named the MVP of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/02\/18-nba-prospects-to-watch-during-2024-fiba-olympics-qualifying-tournament\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">San Juan Olympic Qualifying Tournament<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Jose Alvarado chosen as the San Juan OQT MVP. He invited all his teammates to dance with him while the fans sing &#8220;Jose Jose Jose&#8221; <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7OxywiPatm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/7OxywiPatm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pelicans Film Room (@PelsFilmRoom) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PelsFilmRoom\/status\/1810103414065430821?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 8, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>After the OQT Finals, Alvarado praised his team\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fiba.basketball\/en\/events\/fiba-olympic-qualifying-tournament-2024-san-juan-puerto-rico\/news\/alvarado-earns-tissot-mvp-honors-at-the-fiba-olympic-qualifying-tournament\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">poise and confidence<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think this group is special, I&#8217;ve said it from the beginning,&#8221; Alvarado says, per FIBA Basketball. &#8220;The one thing about this group is that we aren&#8217;t scared of anybody. We know we can beat anybody on any given night. Yes, we know that they&#8217;re probably more talented, bigger, stronger, but we&#8217;re not worried about any of that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re learning each other,&#8221; Alvarado adds, revealing that their journey has been rockier than it may seem.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;This is a great group right here. Coach always asks us to put our egos to the side and that&#8217;s what we did. One thing led to another. As a basketball player I just want to play, regardless if it&#8217;s off the bench. I just want to make the right plays for my teammates. It was a tough 4 games. No one knows what we went through behind closed doors. Guys got personal and we&#8217;re human. But we put our egos to the side and we took care of 4 games.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>With Waters taking a backseat to Alvarado the past two games, the Pelicans point guard may be alluding to him. To that point, Waters was Puerto Rico\u2019s leading scorer in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/03\/recapping-day-one-of-olympic-basketball-qualifiers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the first game of the tournament<\/a>. However, chemistry often requires sacrifice, a willing exchange that provides the right balance. The right formula.<\/p>\n<p>If Puerto Rico was going to stamp their passport for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/05\/paris-olympics-basketball-team-usa-plan-for-starting-lineup\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">a trip to Paris<\/a>, they needed Alvarado. His defense, his fearlessness, and his ability to will them to victory.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re now headed to the Olympics for the first time since 2004.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Orleans Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado may not have entered the Olympic Qualifying Tournament as a headliner but he\u2019ll leave it as one. Playing for Puerto Rico\u2019s senior national team, Alvarado scored a team-high 23 points and was tied for the team lead in rebounds (6) and steals (2) in the final round of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":85183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60,1608,62,33,3],"tags":[49348,3854,1052,1435],"class_list":["post-85163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olympics","category-basketball","category-nba","category-pelicans","category-news","tag-davon-reed","tag-jose-alvarado","tag-olympics","tag-tremont-waters"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}