After the New Orleans Pelicans’ 109-129 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Jose Alvarado talked to the media about having ‘Grand Theft Alvarado’ steals on LeBron James in the same game. For those that may not be aware, this is when Jose Alvarado hides from the ball handler’s line of vision, before quickly stealing the ball while they are still unaware of his presence. It is something that the player has made his signature move on the defensive end. As seen in the X(Formerly Twitter) posts by ‘Pelicans Film Room‘ below, James fell victim to it not once, but twice.
Advertisement
LeBron is a deeply cerebral basketball player, someone who is aware of both time and situation, while he meticulously strategizes to help his team win. So, it came to most fans’ shock that he let Alvarado embarrass him with the same infamous trick twice in the same game. Speaking on the matter after the game, the Pelicans star also admitted he was ‘surprised’ by how successful he was.
“Surprising because he watches films is always alert to me when I am on the court. You know, it’s funny, you know. It would’ve been anybody who had the ball driven up the court, but LeBron? I can say, that’s one of the greatest players to ever play this game.“
Alvarado was in awe of himself for being able to pull off such a big play against arguably the greatest player of all time. However, he clearly wasn’t getting ahead of himself either, as he appreciated James’s greatness unprompted. However, while James will appreciate his opponent’s kind words, it is unlikely he will want to relive the play again.
Alvarado had a great game aside from the plays in question as well. In a little over 20 minutes of action, he recorded 8 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 steals, and 1 block. While his overall shooting percentage was a bit off at 37.5% from the field, he did shoot 40% from beyond the arc.
Jose Alvarado has been pulling off the GTA play for years now
Jose Alvarado has been a menace to inattentive ball-handlers for years now, long before he was in the NBA. He once explained where it all began for him when he got on JJ Redick’s ‘The Old Man and the Three‘ podcast, where he said the following.
“I start doing it in AAU basketball. If I could tell you I remember like when I started doing it, I don’t. I just know that when I did it, I seen in my head, like ‘Yo, this could really work!'”
Indeed, it has worked very well, even at the highest level of basketball. The GTA steal is one that has already claimed multiple victims in the NBA. And it is likely that the count will get a lot higher with each passing season that Jose Alvarado is in the NBA.
