Vincent makes case as Heat discusses point guard market. And Butler on 4th quarter minutes
As the Heat mulls its next move at point guard, Gabe Vincent continues to achieve the two words that are most meaningful to Erik Spoelstra: impact winning.
Filling in for Kyle Lowry, Vincent set the tone with 11 early points, and 17 for the night, in Wednesday’s win against Indiana.
Then, guarded by a much taller Houston player on an in-bounds pass in the game’s final second, he delivered a perfect alley-oop pass to Jimmy Butler for a game-winning dunk just before time elapsed in Friday’s 97-95 win against Houston.
“Kudos to Gabe, throwing a wonderful pass,” Butler said.
Spoelstra explained after the game that assistant coach Chris Quinn came up with the play during a practice in the Orlando bubble in 2020; Spoelstra said this was the first time the Heat has used that specific play in a game.
The challenge of executing that play?
“It’s just the timing of it,” Vincent said. “[Knowing] when he’s going to explode to the rim, put it somewhere only he can get it…
“Did I see him open? No. But I knew he’d be open. When the biggest guy on the court is in front of me and Bam [Adebayo] is in my eyesight, I knew he would be open and would be the guy who would get the ball.”
With Vincent starting in place of injured Kyle Lowry, the Heat was 6-2 entering Saturday night’s game in Orlando, including 2-1 since Lowry left the lineup with a knee injury that will keep him out indefinitely.
What’s more, Miami has outscored teams by 35 points in the 86 minutes that Vincent has been on the floor with regular starters Adebayo, Butler, Tyler Herro and Caleb Martin. That plus 35 is the best of any five-man unit on the team.
“It’s not like Gabe hasn’t been on the court with us before,” Adebayo said. “He knows our tendencies. He knows who he needs to get touches. We listen to Gabe. And that’s the biggest thing. He’s our point guard.”
The starting group with Vincent at point guard is shooting 51.6 percent from the field, best of any Heat lineup that has logged at least 30 minutes.
Why is the first group working well with Vincent in it?
“He’s a combination of being versatile and being a smart basketball player,” Martin said. “He takes the right shots, gets guys in order, makes the right plays and is super unselfish, able to put the ball in the basket. He fits with any group of guys we’ve got.
“He can play shooting guard. Sometimes he can slide on the baseline like a big man, bringing the ball up, being a floor general. He can do everything. He’s an easy fit.”
None of teammates’ praise of Vincent was intended as anything critical toward Lowry. The Heat has outscored teams by 17 minutes and shot 47.3 percent in 293 minutes with Lowry playing alongside the other four starters. That Heat starting lineup has gone 10-11.
Lowry was not at Miami-Dade County Arena on Friday; the absence was excused and related to his knee injury.
In the meantime, the Heat continues to explore adding a point guard in the buyout market. Miami internally has been discussing Russell Westbrook, who - per ESPN - hasn’t decided whether to accept a buyout from Utah or stay there and collect his full $47 million salary.
Westbrook and buyout candidate Patrick Beverley interest the Heat and Bulls, according to that ESPN report. Point guards Reggie Jackson and John Wall also are expected to hit the market. On Friday night, Paul George was among Clippers players lobbying Westbrook to sign with them.
In the meantime, Vincent -- who’s averaging 9.4 points and 2.6 assists -- is helping on both ends. He’s holding the player he’s guarding to 41.5 percent shooting, compared to the 45.2 percent those players shoot overall.
The Heat is 13-8 when Vincent plays in clutch time, defined by the NBA as the final five minutes of games with a margin of five or fewer.
THIS AND THAT
▪ Butler continues to spend nearly half the fourth quarter on the bench before returning for the game’s final minutes. He entered Friday’s game with 6:05 left in the fourth and Houston up four, then scored 10 points in the final 2:31.
Does the extended rest to start the fourth help him?
“Not really,” he said. “I get to pick and choose when I want to hit the switch. I’ve come to a point in my career when I can do that. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. I know what to do and how to play to make sure we win.”
▪ Butler praised Quinn for coming up with the game-winning play Friday.
“Quinny is smart,” Butler said. “As good a coach as he is, he’s going to be a head coach one day very very soon.”
▪ Was Butler surprised he was so open on the game-winning dunk?
“I’m always open. I’m like a football player. OchoCinco set it best,” he said of former NFL receiver Chad Johnson. “He was always open.”
Butler said of the final play: “I was going to get the ball, either going to shoot a terrible fadeaway or a step back three or a lob at the rim. The [lob is] the one we went with.”
▪ The Heat has played a league-high 39 games involving clutch minutes, and Miami is 22-17 in those games.
“We’ve got to figure out how to win games way before the fourth quarter,” Butler said.
Miami is 19-11 in games decided by five points or fewer.
▪ Beyond the 31 points on Friday, Herro also dished out eight assists.
“I love making plays and setting up guys for good shots,” he said.
▪ Guard Jamaree Bouyea’s NBA debut on Friday included one basket (in three shot attempts), two points, a steal, two turnovers and no rebounds or assists.
“I thought he gave us some really good minutes,” Spoelstra said. “You could see his speed and quickness.”
▪ ESPN dropped next Wednesday’s Heat-Nets game (Miami’s final game before the All Star break) and replaced it with Cleveland-Philadelphia. Bally Sports Sun will air the Heat-Nets game.
▪ Orlando finalized a buyout with shooting guard Terrence Ross; Miami and Phoenix are among teams with interest. But the Heat must decide how to use its two open roster spots among point guards, shooting guards and power rotation players.
▪ The Heat remains without Nikola Jovic (lower back stress reaction), Lowry (left knee soreness), Victor Oladipo (right ankle sprain), Duncan Robinson (finger surgery), Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery) and Udonis Haslem (personal reasons) for Saturday night’s game against the Magic on the second night of a back-to-back set.
Vincent (right ankle inflammation), Herro (lower back contusion) and Highsmith (right elbow sprain) are listed as probable to play.
No other Heat players are on the injury report, which means Butler is on track to play on both sides of a back-to-back for just the third time this season and the first time since Oct. 26-27 (at Portland Trail Blazers and at Golden State Warriors).
This story was originally published February 11, 2023 at 11:49 AM.
