Philadelphia 76ers fans and Miami Heat faithful alike looked like they were not going to have a good Christmas game. Both Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid were out which could have made for a boring game. But, Jaime Jaquez Jr. prevented all of that from happening. He went head-on against a lethal Sixers scoring duo comprised of Kelly Oubre Jr. and Tyrese Maxey. It was a blazing performance right from the rip that did not disappoint.

Jaime Jaquez Jr.'s insane scoring outburst prompted statements like, “He's like a growth serum-injected version of Jimmy Butler. He's 22 and playing like Butler did at 28.”

Some members of the Heat faithful even made a plea to Coach Erik Spoelstra, “Jaime Jaquez Jr should already start permanently for the Heat.”

All of these praises for the Heat rookie seem more than warranted. He notched a career-high of 31 points on a 73% clip from all three levels of scoring. His 10 rebounds also make for a dominant while cleaning up the glass. These made him only the fifth rookie in NBA Christmas Day history with a 30-point and 10-rebound double-double. The names in those pantheon of stars include Patrick Ewing, per StatMuse.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. performs a Heat Christmas miracle

Heat's Jaime Jaquez Jr Dwyane Wade

He outgunned the Sixers trio of Tobias Harris, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Tyrese Maxey who all combined for 64 points. It came with a little help from his own Heat backups of Bam Adebayo who notched a monster 26-point and 15-rebound game and Tyler Herro who scored 22 buckets while dropping five dimes.

This was not the first time that the Heat rookie pulled this off. He might even be scaring some members of his draft class, “Jaquez has a bigger impact on a playoff team than Chet and Wemby idc, Chet should be 3rd and Wemby 2nd and Jaquez 1.”

Bold declarations are always made after someone pops off. But, this performance for the Heat seems different. When Spoelstra needed a star and Jimmy Butler was not there, it was his rookie who stepped up to take the challenge. There may have been a shortage of stars when the injury reports were released. But, a star was definitely born on this night.