Gabe Vincent, the lucky charm of the Heat

Without knowing, Gabe Vincent offered a career high, tonight against the Celtics, with three blocks.  » Cons? »he is surprised at a press conference. “We have to talk about it. “The statisticians were rather generous with him since the three balls in question are more “strips”, including two in front of Robert Williams in the racket, than counters strictly speaking.

This does not detract from the level of commitment of the leader, again established this night in the absence of Kyle Lowry.  » I tried to have an impact in defence. (The Celtics) have been very good for serve (Williams), especially with lob passes. I ended up right in front and was able to get my hands on it which allowed us to run in transition “, describes the non-drafted player.

The latter still had a good opportunity to show what a competitor he is.  » A great competitor able to slip into different roles, which is very important “, described Erik Spoelstra before the match, highlighting in particular his “ mental stability « .  » We experienced enough of that during the regular season, where he really helped our second five and was able to start every game that Kyle or Jimmy did. (Butler) have missed. He also handled things with great class when he was out of rotation. »

Of his 68 matches played in his third season, he was actually started 27 times. This trend is confirmed in these final stages with 12 matches played including 7 starts (11 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists on average). Notable fact: the Heat have still not bowed when playing in place of Kyle Lowry.

His coach said he had a  » great confidence in his ability to replace the former Raptors player,  » and do it in a different way than Kyle “, while allowing the Heat to follow their usual game plan.

Thrive with the right role

He proved it again last night by signing, in addition to his defensive commitment, a clean game in attack: 17 points (5/10 on shots, including 3/7 from afar), 3 assists and 2 rebounds in 34 minutes with a +23 score, not far from the MVP of the evening, Jimmy Butler (+25).

 » I believe the bulk of his development is about producing effective basketball and not trying to be what someone expects of them, whether that’s being a sniper, a manager, or someone trying to replace Kyle »displays his coach after the match. « He’s a different player, but he has so much experience with us. I know he doesn’t have much NBA experience, but he spent three years with us. He’s not a 20 year old. He’s a pro and he’s gained a lot of confidence in the dressing room. »

In his team’s fiery third quarter, we saw him convert a big award-winning shot at the end of possession in front of Jayson Tatum, fix well to find Dewayne Dedmon underneath, follow up with a « turnaround » in semi-transition then a new award-winning shot. Erik Spoelstra knows he is capable of bringing these  » different things, whether he needs to pass the ball to certain guys like Jimmy or we need a spark. We needed an outside address in the second half and he was able to provide it. »

 » After the break, I wanted to be more aggressive offensively, but I thought about defense first. All they (the Celtics) did in the first half was too easy, I just tried to be there in defense and pick up our pace “, describes the native of California who allows the Heat to be careful with Kyle Lowry.