In what was a shootout win for the Miami Heat over the Indiana Pacers, the team broke their three-game losing streak. The Heat were led by great performances from stars Jimmy Butler and rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. who continues to impress.
While Butler was the leading drive for the team with a season-high 36 points, Jaquez also had a season-high for himself at 24 points as he made eight of his 13 shot attempts. Funny enough, it's been said by Jaquez and even Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra that the first-year player models part of his game off of Butler.
Butler said after the win that he's noticed the comparisons and then some. He even further praised Jaquez by saying he's picked up on stuff at 22-years old that Butler did when he was 28 or 29.
“Without a doubt, I mean it is good to see and it's cool cuz he's like he's he's super young. So he's picked that type of stuff up whenever I was 2829. He has so much room to get better and he's so confident always working on his game and he wants to make the right play over time. It's not like he's a rookie. He knows what it takes him and he's done it in college. So as far as access I want to continue to grow.”
The way Jaquez draws a defender on him, the way he drives to the basket, the way he manipulates the opposing player on him, Jaquez's play-style does take a ton of inspiration from Butler. Even as a rookie, the way he plays is unlike a rookie and more like a person that's been in the league for years.
Jaquez learning from the Heat's veteran leadership
There's an argument to be made that Jaquez is a top three rookie in the association at the moment. Other than the likes of the San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama and Oklahoma City Thunder's Chet Holmgren, Jaquez has certified himself with them.
Jaquez said to the media Thursday night what motivates him to go out and perform the way he's been has been the veteran leadership of the team. He talks about the team's trust in him, especially in important situations in the game.
“It's been great. Just to have such great veteran leaders on this team, and they're giving me a lot of confidence to be able to play my game and do what I do,” Jaquez said. “And I think that's really the biggest thing is having a teammates trust in you along with your coach to go out there and play your game and understand that, I'm here to help the team win. So it's been great.”
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra on Jaquez's “poise”
There's no doubt that Jaquez has already earned the trust in the team and Spoelstra. It's not just giving the ball to the rookie in the first half, but Spoelstra is drawing up plays for Jaquez in late-game situations where Miami needs a bucket. Spoelstra said post-game to the media that he has the experience playing at a big stage in college basketball for four years at UCLA as it has created immense “poise” for the rookie.
“It's experience, it's poise, it's reading what's necessary for that possession? And I think a lot of young players just either paint by numbers. They're thinking either I'm just going to get to my spot and shoot or they're trying to do whatever the game plan may be and not reading what's happening,” Spoelstra said. “He has a poise about him that he can be aggressive and then also resd the defense. I think that's just born out of a lot of experiences by a lot of big college basketball games where you can make decision after decision after decision for that team to be successful.”
Jaquez's game-plan in facing the Pacers
Spoelstra has said time and time again how smart of a basketball player he is which contributes a ton in terms of the team's dynamic. He showed that intelligence after the game when talking about how to attack the Pacers which is through the paint.
“I think one of the scouting reports going in was that they are a very bad defensive paint team and one of our objective was to get into paint and create. So you know, I kind of took that, when my number was called to be able to handle the ball and do what I need to do I was just trying to follow the game plan, get in the paint and follow the scouting report. So that was kind of my mentality.”
The Heat will need further production from Jaquez as the team will face Indiana again Saturday night. With how the Pacers have been playing, Miami will have to come out scoring on offense if they want to win two straight.
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