Gabe Vincent will be able to write on his CV that he finished as the Heat’s top scorer in an NBA final game! Author of 23 points in Miami’s victory in Denver, the Nigerian leader behaved like a metronome in this second round, and his accuracy impresses more and more. While you might think he was just an offensive joker, and more like a second back, he is patient in his choices, and his panoply is complete.
At the very beginning of the match, it was he who managed to slip in halfway to help the Heat start with a 7-0. His little “step back” after the dribble creates distance with the defender, and he shoots in a chair. This is a sign of great self-confidence.
A difficult metamorphosis
“It was clearly not easy” he explains about his mutation. “The staff have been great with me, whether on video or in training. My teammates are great, coaching me, telling me to be more aggressive when I’m wondering if I should make the pass. And then there are our stars, Jimmy, Kyle and Bam… They are there, behind me, telling me to just play. They trust my game intelligence, and they just want me to give it my all. »
That night, Gabe Vincent set the tone at the start of the game, but he also allowed the Heat not to sink. When Denver took a 12-point lead in the second quarter, it was he who stopped the bleeding. Between the end of the first half, and the start of the 3rd quarter, he hurt the Nuggets with his 3-point address. He will be rewarded by scoring the basket that will allow the Heat to take control at the start of the 4th quarter (86-85).
“We love Nnamdi. We really like it. If you don’t know it, national media, because you don’t follow us, please look into Nnamdi. He’s a special player. He really is” explains Erik Spoelstra, giving the middle name of his leader. “He was with us in the bubble as a “two-way player”. He accepted, I think, the most difficult role change for a young player. He was a great shooter, a “two-way player”. We wanted to make him a combo guard, someone who could organize the game for us, be a disruption defensively, a badass. Someone who learns to make things easier and lead a team. I think that’s the hardest thing to do in this league, turn a guard into a point guard. He sometimes struggled to do that because you’re trying to reinvent yourself. Instead of saying to himself, ‘This is too hard, let me be myself’, he has really improved in the last three years. »
“He spanked us during an Olympic Games preparation match with Nigeria”
American-Nigerian like Gabe Vincent, Bam Adebayo also pays homage to him. “Undrafted players can start in an NBA Finals, be productive, and it doesn’t matter if they’re undrafted” recalls the pivot of Miami. “He’s one of those guys who’s made his way, in the midst of ‘you’re not this, you’re not that’…I think a lot of people are going to find out who Gabe Vincent is. (…) He had spanked us during a preparation match for the Olympic Games with Nigeria. He already had this type of energy, this aggressiveness and this anger. From that day on, I felt he was one of us. »
| Gabe Vincent | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2019-20 | MIA | 9 | 9 | 21.6 | 22.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 2.4 |
| 2020-21 | MIA | 50 | 13 | 37.8 | 30.9 | 87.0 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 4.8 |
| 2021-22 | MIA | 68 | 23 | 41.7 | 36.8 | 81.5 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 3.1 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 8.7 |
| 2022-23 | MIA | 68 | 26 | 40.2 | 33.4 | 87.2 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 9.4 |
| Total | 195 | 21 | 39.9 | 33.9 | 85.2 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 7.7 | |
How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Shots made / Shots attempted; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def= defensive rebound; Tot = Total bounces; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost bullets; Ct: Counters; Points = Points.
