MIAMI (United States) - It only took two games in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Americas Qualifiers for Jose Alvarado's impact to be felt on Puerto Rico's National Team.

Alvarado was one of the key players for Puerto Rico in Window 3 and he made his presence felt in both games he played - a 75-83 loss to USA on July 1 and a 97-87 thrilling overtime win over Mexico on July 4.

His stat line from his first game on the international stage was very good, as well as his overall impact on the game with factors and attributes that don't show up in box scores.

The 24-year-old had a very solid debut for the Puerto Rico national team against USA, finishing with a team-high 20 points, along with 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal on 7-of-17 shooting from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.

Alvarado scored 12 of his points in the final quarter, as Puerto Rico finished the game strong, outscoring USA 24-17 and only losing by eight points after being down by as many as 17.

The strong finish to the game and the close result is a sign that Puerto Rico basketball won't quit and is on the rise. In a way, the team took on Alvarado's persona, energy, fearlessness and his never-give-up attitude.

After the loss, Alvarado spoke candidly about what it means for him to represent Puerto Rico and his hopeful outlook and confidence in the team going forward.

"Regardless of the outcome, this is a special moment in my life, for my family and the guys that have the jersey on with me," said Alvarado. "We're making memories, we're growing together, and we've got a country on our side. We're gonna represent as best as we can. I know we didn't win today, but this is the beginning of a great start."

Alvarado added, "We're gonna get a feel for each other and we got a lot more games ahead of us, so I can't wait to get together again and keep playing with the guys. We're a really good team. It's not like we got to figure out what we're missing."

As if his debut wasn't impressive enough, Alvarado followed up that first game with an even better performance in a great win against Mexico.

Alvarado was once again Puerto Rico's top scorer with 22 points, and he stuffed the stat sheet even more with 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 1 block on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 from three-point.

He scored 14 of his 22 total points in the final 15 minutes between the fourth quarter and overtime, including this dagger three-pointer that gave Puerto Rico a nine-point lead with a little over a minute left in overtime:

Between his two games, Alvarado averaged 21.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 3.0 made threes per game with an average efficiency rating of 20.5.

Puerto Rico finished the First Round of Americas Qualifiers 3-3 in Group D and will compete in Group F in the Second Round alongside USA, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico and Colombia.

Alvarado is clearly encouraged about the potential of Puerto Rico, and it would be a huge boost if he suits up again in Window 1 of the Second Round in August for Puerto Rico's games against Brazil and Uruguay (schedule still TBD).

FIBA