The Los Angeles Lakers may have lost to the Dallas Mavericks, but it wasn’t Gabe Vincent’s fault.
Instead, Gabe Vincent got the Los Angeles Lakers off to a great start, hitting five consecutive 3-pointers in the first quarter.
Speaking of his strong start, Vincent revealed that the Dallas Mavericks’ bench tried to talk trash to him, but he responded on the floor.
Even if it was just a preseason game, the Mavs bench got inside Vincent’s head and tried to force him out of the game.
However, Vincent admitted he was in the zone and couldn’t even hear the fans in the arena.
Vincent said after the game, “I felt my teammates wanted more of me. I could feel their excitement. I couldn’t hear the fans at all.”
In response to jeers from the Mavs’ bench, Vincent said, “I could hear them saying, ‘I’m not going to shoot again.’ I’m sure they don’t know me very well. We were having fun with it.”
Vincent led the Lakers with 22 points in 25 minutes, but ultimately suffered in the blowout loss.
NBA preseason games don’t count toward a team’s regular season wins, so they don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.
But it’s always a good feeling to see players have good touches. Coach Redick feels the same way about Vincent’s preseason campaign thus far.
“He was great as an on-ball guy. He created an advantage for us. I thought his movement in the early offensive sets and then our movement in the half court was really good,” Reddick said.
He added: “I think he’s pushing himself to be in great shape and trying to maintain it for a long time. That’s probably his goal.”
Redick also gave Vincent the role of mentor to Bronny James this season. With that in mind, it would be great to see Vincent showing up for the Lakers on the hardwood.