Rookie Jaime Jaquez became an immediate rotation player for the surging Heat, playing the fifth-most minutes and recording the fifth-highest scoring total for Miami thus far. In his first NBA season, Jaquez is already becoming a late-game staple for Miami during its seven-game winning streak, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes.
The UCLA product has played the full fourth quarter in each of the Heat’s past five games of their win streak. He ranks third entering Saturday in minutes played in the fourth quarter among rookies across the league, behind only Bilal Coulibaly and Toumani Camara.
“All of those things that you need to win on the road and that you would like to develop out of your team, those are his strengths,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “The grit, the perseverance, the mental and the emotional stability. He’s learning things, but he typically doesn’t make the same mistake twice. So these experiences in the fourth quarter are like exponential 10x opportunities for him.”
Jaquez is averaging 9.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 steals while shooting 49.5% from the floor. Chiang observes that Jaquez’s defense is already impressive, and he’s already drawing defensive assignments on the likes of Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum, Trae Young and LeBron James.
“I just learned and felt like this is where I belong,” Jaquez said. “This is where I want to be at, in the NBA. I feel like I can play. There’s a lot of things I still need to learn, but I felt comfortable out there and I felt like I’m ready to play and that I belong in this league.”
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