The Miami Heat are coming off back-to-back wins against the Milwaukee Bucks. Needing to continue to bolster their record as they progress through the remainder of the season and into the postseason, the Miami Heat should feel good about being able to stack up consecutive wins.
While some will point to the fact that neither Khris Middleton nor Giannis Antetokounmpo played in either contest as a reason to discount the wins, the Miami Heat were without Kyle Lowry and Tyler Herro, among a few others, for both games themselves.
It can also be noted that Jimmy Butler sat out in the fourth period of the win on Saturday, while Bam Adebayo really didn’t do much of anything until the fourth period started. That says something about just how well the rest of the guys were going and what it would take from any iteration of the Bucks to beat them.
The Miami Heat just earned a pair of wins over the Giannis-less Bucks. However, Gabe Vincent would have made it tough for any iteration of the Bucks to win.
Now, The Greek Freak is a special player, so you aren’t discounting that but you want to consider it all. And among those special guys for the Miami Heat, especially in light of their key absences, was Gabe Vincent.
On the back of his career-high 28 point night in Thursday’s win, he would come out to score 21 in the first half of Saturday’s victory. Though he would only score six more pints along the way in the win, he gave the Miami Heat more than enough to win the game.
And on top of the point production, scoring 55 points in the last two games combined, he’s also nabbed seven steals with five of them coming on Saturday. The Miami Heat won the games, which is most important, but Vincent’s performances in the last two games are as important too.
What he offers them as a high-level two-way guard, when he’s right, is absurdly valuable to a Heat team that lacks point production and offensive creation on some nights. He was the absolute best player for the Miami Heat on Thursday night and could have arguably been that on Saturday.
He hit big shots and especially the three-ball when the Miami Heat needed it the most. And he gave you more than solid defensive showings as well.
Coming off a little bit of a mysterious knee situation, one that lingered and made you think it might be more to it all, it’s good to see him get back to being the player he is at his peak. And with this version of him, along with all else the Miami Heat are tapping into right now, they can certainly be in the mix at the end.