It was an uplifting Sunday night at the Barclays Center for the Los Angeles Lakers, who rolled to a 116-104 over the Brooklyn Nets. LeBron James’ “masterful” shooting display will rightfully garner the headlines, though the Lakers were also thrilled to witness the return of Gabe Vincent.
Vincent, out since Dec. 20, subbed in for Austin Reaves with the Lakers up 26-6 with 3:34 remaining in the first quarter. In 14 minutes, hemade one of his four field goal attempts, a short turnaround off the glass in the first quarter.
“He was solid,” said Anthony Davis (24 points, 14 rebounds). “Obviously, it’s a feel-thing, a rhythm thing to get back out there. He looked really well on both ends of the floor, to me. We had some miscues. I know I did with him. But, that’s just coming back, being part of the team and getting game reps. Overall I think he looked really solid.”
Vincent finished with one assist — a lob to Davis that he set up with dribble penetration — one rebound, one steal, and one turnover. He missed both of his 3-point attempts.
“He makes it easy,” Vincent said about connecting with AD. “He’s huge.”
“I thought for a guy that’s been out that long, he came in and had some big possessions,” said Lakers head coach Darvin Ham. “Defensively, he was trying to get after it, Offensively, his time is gonna come. He’ll see his shot go in … He had the only bucket off our bench, ironically.”
Vincent — signed for $33 million in free agency to provide point-of-attack defense, timely shooting, and playoff chops — has missed the last 46 games. He made four appearances in October before being sidelined with a bone bruise. His knee swelled up after the Dec. 20 comeback, resulting in arthroscopic surgery one week later. (Jarred Vanderbilt is expected back in days.)
“First of all, I just told him, ‘Happy to have him back. Congrats, we’re happy to have you back out there,’” said LeBron, who considerately tempered expectations for his teammate on Friday. “First action in so many months. The legs and the lungs is gonna be the first things to go. But I thought he was great in the minutes he was out there. It was great to have him back.”
Vincent was the second guard off the Lakers’ bench at Barclays — behind Spencer Dinwiddie. He supplanted Cam Reddish and Max Christie in the rotation.
“I’m going to let them take care of it,” Vincent said about his role. “I got faith in the training staff and the coaching staff and they have faith in me, they put me in there for whatever minutes they do and hopefully I continue to build trust with these guys in this locker room.”
Ham credited Vincent for handling tough defensive assignments. The guard checked Cam Thomas, Mikal Bridges, and Dennis Schroder.
“What I saw is a guy trying to get his rhythm in the right area,” said the Lakers coach. “When you come back from that long of a layoff, the tendency is — just how the ball feels, how the climate feels, in terms of the torque, the force in which you’re on the court out there with nine other guys playing at a very high level. You gotta figure out that the little things are what is gonna get you back in rhythm. And he did that.”
Vincent averaged 5.4 points in 25.4 minutes (including crunchtime burn) in his first five appearances for the Lakers. He averaged 12.7 points and 3.5 assists on 37.8% 3-point shooting in 22 playoff starts for the Miami Heat en route to the 2023 NBA Finals.
The streaking Lakers (42-33) — winners of six of their last seven ballgames — visit the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday and the Washington Wizards on Thursday. They’re 3-1 on their pivotal East Coast road trip.
“I was encouraged by his pop, his speed, his energy,” Ham said about Vincent. “It’ll just continue to get better. We’ll see how he feels when he wake up in the morning.”
Turns out there’s a lot for the Lakers to be encouraged about, at just the right time.
