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During Game 5 of the N.B.A. finals on Saturday night, José A. Alvarado Jr. ducked, shimmied and shuffled through traffic to get a shot. With his camera.
That’s José A. Alvarado Jr., the photographer and New York Times contributor. No relation to Jose Alvarado, the Knicks guard who played a little over 11 minutes in the series-clinching win in San Antonio.
Mr. Alvarado was one of several photographers The Times assigned to cover the watch parties, street gatherings and spontaneous dancing that popped up in the city during the Knicks’ electrifying finals run.
“I’ve been photographing the city for over a decade, and I’ve never seen the city that energized, especially around a sport,” said Mr. Alvarado, who was born in New York and lives in Queens.
He spent five game nights this month roaming the streets, often with his back to the basketball. Instead, Mr. Alvarado faced the crowds that had gathered around giant projector screens and sidewalk TVs, scanning for the joy that came with the team’s first championship in 53 years.
On Saturday night, while the Knicks were finishing off the Spurs, he started his work in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. The owner of a corner bodega, who was hosting a watch party outside his store, let Mr. Alvarado onto the building’s roof, allowing him to capture an aerial shot of a block packed with fans.
Afterward, Mr. Alvarado rented a Citi Bike and rode to the West Village. The crowd there was dense, making movement difficult. He found a perch atop an exterior staircase and later, a spot on a sidewalk.
“In a crowd like this, I look for what vibes are attracting me and the lens,” he said, adding that he tried to find “quieter moments,” like scenes of people leaning out of windows, throwing confetti or scampering up a street sign, even if his vantage point wasn’t always ideal.
“Part of it is knowing you can’t grab everything but doing the best you can,” said Mr. Alvarado, who was assigned to cover the Knicks’ championship parade in Lower Manhattan on Thursday.
When he introduced himself as a photographer, Mr. Alvarado said several people were incredulous. Did he really share a name with the basketball player and native New Yorker who played an important role during the Knicks’ playoff run?
“It was a good icebreaker for sure,” he said.
His night ended in Washington Square Park, where fans were celebrating after the Knicks had clinched the win. By then, Mr. Alvarado admitted, he had become more liberal with his picture taking. “You shoot as much as you can to get everything,” he said. “You’re kind of just burning the shutter like, ‘Let’s go!’”
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