Heat’s Gabe Vincent shining in first round with defense on Trae Young. A look at his impact
How good was guard Gabe Vincent for the Miami Heat in Game 2 of its first-round playoff series against the Hawks? Heat coach Erik Spoelstra compared his impact to that of Jimmy Butler’s on a night Butler set a playoff career-high with 45 points.
“Really along the same lines of what I was saying about Jimmy, not to the explosive offense that Jimmy was able to provide. But it’s the two-way basketball that’s important,” Spoelstra said of Vincent’s performance following the Heat’s 115-105 win against the Hawks on Tuesday night at FTX Arena to take a 2-0 series lead.
Vincent, 25, contributed 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range, one rebound and three assists in 26 minutes off the bench in Game 2. This comes after he recorded eight points, three rebounds and seven assists in 25 minutes in Game 1.
But it has been Vincent’s defense on Hawks star guard Trae Young that has been most impressive through the first two playoffs games.
According to NBA tracking stats, Young has totaled just three points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field in 31 possessions with Vincent as his primary defender to open the series. In addition, Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic has scored just two points on 0-of-2 shooting from the field with Vincent on him.
“Gabe can do a lot of different things to contribute,” Spoelstra said. “He can defend, he can guard multiple positions. He spent a lot of time on Young, Bogdanovic and then on down the roster. But then also offensively, he’s a threat. He’s a great three-point shooter, but he can also facilitate for you, get you into offense, play off the ball. All the things that he has really been trying to develop for the last 2.5 years, they kind of built for a moment like this.”
Vincent has taken a physical approach in defending Young, pressuring and picking him up full court. But it has also been a disciplined style that has frustrated Young at times, with Vincent yet to be called for a shooting foul while defending him in the first two games of the series.
“Try not to let him get the ball. That’s the best way to guard him, I’d say,” Vincent said of his goal while defending Young. “Try not to let him get the ball. He’s a dynamic player. He can score from damn near half court. So he does a lot of things really well offensively. Anyway I can disrupt him, I try to.”
Only Heat starting guard Kyle Lowry has spent more time than Vincent defending Young during the series. During the possessions he hasn’t been on Young, Lowry has enjoyed watching Vincent do the job as Butler called Vincent “pesky as hell on the defensive end.”
“You’re not going to stop Trae,” Lowry said. “Trae is going to get his buckets, he’s going to get his assists, he’s going to have some good nights. But Gabe’s effort, his energy was fantastic, and then he hit a couple big threes in the first half and then hit a huge one in the fourth quarter to put us back up seven. That’s a big-time shot. I think his confidence is just growing and understanding that he’s a valuable member of our team and he belongs.”
Young complained about the officiating following Game 2, as the Heat finished the win with 15 more free-throw attempts than the Hawks.
“If the refs are going to let them be as physical as they are and not call fouls, it’s going to be hard to do anything,” Young said.
When told about Young’s comment, Vincent attempted to hide a smile.
“I thought he got a lot of calls tonight,” Vincent said. “I don’t know how many he got. But I think we’re just playing hard. We’re playing Miami Heat basketball, competing every possession.”
As part of a bench rotation that has changed throughout the season, Vincent has been a big part of the Heat’s first-round plan. The only player who has logged more minutes off the Heat’s bench through the first two games of the series is sixth man extraordinaire Tyler Herro.
Miami has outscored Atlanta by 11 points per 100 possessions with Vincent on the court in the first round.
“These are the moments you look forward to,” Vincent said. “I’m just staying in the moment. I’m excited to be here. I’m excited to help us win and I’m just looking forward to the next one.”
EVER-CHANGING ROTATION
After Heat sharpshooter Duncan Robinson scored a team-high 27 points and set a single-game franchise playoff record with eight made threes in Game 1, he played just 6 minutes 40 seconds off the bench in Game 2. Robinson did not score or attempt a shot on Tuesday, and he did not play in the second half.
Instead, forward Caleb Martin took Robinson’s minutes in the second half of Game 2. Martin logged 14:50 in the second half, as the Heat went with a small lineup that included P.J. Tucker and Martin in the frontcourt with starting center Bam Adebayo on the bench for nearly the entire third quarter because of foul trouble.
“Well, Caleb just gave us some great minutes and we were without Bam. We had to pivot,” Spoelstra said. “That lineup really took us from basically a possession game, we got it to double digits and we let it roll. It wasn’t necessarily something I had planned and it could be different next game. That’s what the playoffs are about. You can’t be rigid.”
IN A GOOD SPOT
After winning the first two games of its series against the Hawks, the Heat is in a very good spot. The Heat owns a perfect 17-0 all-time record in playoff series that it has taken a 2-0 lead in.
The series now shifts to Atlanta for the next two games. Game 3 is on Friday at State Farm Arena.
“That’s all we did was take care of home,” Lowry said. “The playoffs, they say they don’t start until you win one on the road. We understand they they’re going to play better at home.”
