The Los Angeles Lakers picked up a dominant victory on Sunday afternoon as they quickly imposed their will on the Brooklyn Nets and never looked back. But aside from their sixth victory in seven games, this contest also saw the return from injury of point guard Gabe Vincent.
Vincent had played in only five games this season and had not been on the court for the Lakers since December
20. Vincent underwent surgery on his knee and there were concerns about whether he would be able to return at all this season, but he is finally back to suiting up.
While he only scored two points in the Lakers victory, the point guard still felt great just to get on the court and and sweat a little bit, as seen on Spectrum SportsNet:
“It felt good. It felt good to go out there and get a sweat, compete a little bit, get a little statsheet going a little bit, tiny bit here and there. But it felt good to go out there and run around.”
Vincent provides a skillset that the Lakers could use, particularly with his ability to defend at the point guard position, and provide timely perimeter shooting. As far as Vincent is concerned, he just wants to do the little things to help the Lakers:
“Just filling in the gaps, that’s all. Filling in the gaps, go out there and compete defensively when I can on the perimeter, battle for a board if it comes my way, if not, get the other guy out the way. Just doing the little things.”
The Lakers need all the wins they can get down this final stretch and Vincent can help this team pick up those victories. But the team does have a pair of back-to-backs coming up this week and it is normal for players coming off injury to be held out of certain games as they recover. But Vincent is putting that in the hands of the Lakers staff:
“I’m gonna let them take care of it. I got faith in the training staff and the coaching staff. They have faith in me to put me in there for whatever minutes they do and hopefully I continue to build trust in these guys in this locker room and we continue to make our push.”
Getting healthy has been the issue for the Lakers all year long and now they are inching closer to being full strength. With the playoffs around the corner, the Lakers need all of their weapons available to make a run.
Lakers LeBron James, Anthony Davis happy to have Gabe Vincent back
Gabe Vincent’s Lakers teammates were also happy to have him back on the court after so much time away. LeBron James thought Vincent was great in the minutes he was on the floor, especially as most players struggle with conditioning when they first get back.
Anthony Davis echoed those thoughts, noting that there were miscues that come with not having played together in so long. That being said, Davis felt Vincent was solid on both ends of the court.
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