It was announced today by the Miami Heat's X (formerly known as Twitter) account that rookie sensation Jaime Jaquez Jr. will miss Sunday's game against the Orlando Magic with a left groin strain. It will mark his fourth straight game where as before he sustained the injury, he had played every regular season game.
In his absence, the Heat have lacked the usual energy they have always had in games, especially as they are currently in a shooting slump. It is totally not surprising that losing a standout like Jaquez can impact the flow of the game as head coach Erik Spoelstra said that while the team misses his energy, it can not be an excuse for the team's lulls.
“I don't want anything to sound like an excuse, but certainly some of the in between plays that he can make something out of nothing. The energy plays in transition. Those things can impact but by no means their absences, that's not something we can use as an excuse for the beginning of the game, the last two games just in terms of energy and an effort defensively.” Spoelstra said before Friday's loss to the Atlanta Hawks. “Sure, we missed some shots and that's going to happen. The seasons are long so you know, particularly outside shooting, that'll have its ebbs and flows. For the most part, we are fantastic shooting team, but we have to be able to weather storms if it's not going in. We're much better and more mentally tough and we've proven that to be able to defend regardless if we're lighting it up from three.”
How Heat star Jaquez re-injured the groin
Jaquez got the groin injury on Jan. 14 against the Charlotte Hornets where he was on pace for a career-best as he scored 15 points in the first quarter. He would then score zero in the second period where he sustained the issue as he explains to the media after the game how he got the groin problem.
“When I went up for the dunk in transition, I just didn’t feel that well when I took off. It totally started to get worse throughout the duration of the game. And then it was getting towards halftime and I was talking to C.B., and we talked it over, he said I should talk to the trainers,” Jaquez said. “We went in the back and we came to the decision to shut it down, not try to make it anything worse.”
There should be a level of concern as Jaquez has had a groin injury in the past as recently as in the preseason where he missed two weeks because of it. On the other hand, the first-year player said that it is not as severe as before.
Jaquez embraces being available for his teammates
With Spoelstra backing that up by saying the doctors aren't labeling it as serious as Jaquez's last injury, it has been about a week since Jaquez has last seen action. Before that, he was the only Miami player to play in every single regular season game, an aspect that the UCLA product embraced.
“I take a lot of pride in being able to be available and play games, even through things that are hurting and little injuries here and there,” Jaquez said. “But I think at this point, this is something that I’ve got to take a little more serious and take some time to just recuperate and get myself to 100 percent.”
Jaquez has been one of the best first-year players in the NBA this season as he has won back to back Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month awards. In the month of December, Jaquez has averaged “16.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists while shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 84.9 percent from the foul line” according to a team press release. An whopping statistic that the absence of Jaquez will impact is that he had played 315.8 fourth quarter minutes when he won the award, which was the most in the entire NBA.
It will be interesting to see where Jaquez would fit into the rotation as he was a mainstay in the starting lineup with the absence of Jimmy Butler, a player he has been compared to. With the featured star back, Jaquez could be brought back to the second unit to bring that aforementioned “energy” that Spoelstra has described.
Jaquez will be taking it day by day
At the moment, the head coach said that Jaquez will be considered “day to day” from here on out as Jaquez looks to return to the lineup soon. However, with how exciting the 22-year old has been, they do not want to risk further injury, especially since it is in the same area as last time.
“I mean, we’ll see,” Jaquez said. “We’ll see how I’m feeling. I know we’re going to take it day by day, and we’re saying that for now. But you never know what can happen.”
As said before, Miami is currently in a shooting slump as they lost the past two games, both to losing teams. Even in the gritty win against the Brooklyn Nets before the losses, they scored under 100 points which is only acceptable in the modern NBA if they play complimentary basketball.
The contest where they lost to the Toronto Raptors last Wednesday was dreadful as they were trailing by 35 points at halftime, the biggest midway deficit in franchise history. They were abysmal from three-point range in the first 24 minutes as Miami made only one of 16 attempts.
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