Jaquez on a roll, Riley responds, Spoelstra on shenanigans and a Heat prospect poached
You can forget the “R” word when assessing Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s second NBA season.
Fear of regression has been replaced by bullishness about his future, after an exceptional start to this six-game Western swing that takes Miami to Portland on Saturday night (10 p.m., FanDuel Sports Sun).
There was a 16-point, 10-assist, 5-steal game in Sacramento on Monday, marred only by two late missed free throws in a game eventually lost in double overtime.
There was an 18-point game, on efficient 7 for 12 shooting, in a win on Wednesday on Golden State.
And then there was Thursday’s gem in a 97-92 win at Utah, featuring 20 points on 7 for 11 shooting, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
Equally important were the timely plays -- a key pass to Bam Adebayo for a late jumper, a huge three with 1:05 left (to put the Heat up five) and two game-sealing free throws with 11 seconds left.
“He has been really, really good, really efficient,” Tyler Herro said. “He’s looking like little Rookie Jaime a little bit.”
The ‘little Rookie Jaime’ made the NBA’s All Rookie team but has seen his scoring average drop from 11.9 to 9.5 and his shooting percentage dip from 48.9 to 43.9.
But he has made 14 of his past 23 shots and four for his last eight threes, raising his season percentage to 28.4.
“He’s doing his thing,” Herro said. “We know what he’s capable of. He likes to play a little bit more free with the ball in his hands, and with the roster we have right now at this time, that’s what he’s doing, playing with the ball in his hands, making the right play and he’s attacking for himself all while playing efficient.”
Opportunities have arisen for that aggressive approach amid Jimmy Butler’s ongoing seven-game suspension, which continues until the Heat returns home to play Denver on Jan. 17.
Did Jaquez fear that he might be having a sophomore slump before this turnaround?
“You can have ups and downs in your career whether it’s your rookie season or sophomore season,” he said. “My important thing is keeping my mentality always at an even keel.
“A lot of people here have been giving me a lot of confidence and telling me to play my game, trust the work I’ve put in. My girlfriend tells me every day, ‘play your heart out and that’s all that matters.’ My parents always giving me support. Everyone has given me confidence.”
He has worked laboriously on his three-pointer in practice and the results have come this week.
What has impressed Erik Spoelstra most?
“He really contributed to wins; that’s what defines him. He’s doing it on both ends; he was very good defensively” against Utah.
And don’t overlook the supreme play-making, including 18 assists the past three games.
“When I drive into the paint and draw two, it makes it easy to spray out to shooters,” he said. “Now teams are scouting for Tyler. I try to get him some easy buckets; that has been one of my goals coming in here.”
Riley response
The Dan Le Batard Show continues to drop parts of their recent interview with Heat president Pat Riley, and one snippet included Riley’s response to whether he listened to those critical of his roster management after the Celtics won the NBA title in June. Some of those critics have called him “washed,” a popular term among the younger generation.
“Whoever’s saying that I haven’t read it, because I’m not on any social media site and I don’t care,” Riley said. “I’ve had my ass kicked by the Celtics enough when I was coaching, and they’re a great team.
“I don’t worry about what critics say, because maybe I am? Maybe I should go somewhere and just put my feet up. But I would then become obsessive about doing something else.”
Challenge fallout
Spoelstra was peeved that referees took the ball from Jaquez, when he was already at the free throw line, after Utah challenged a foul call with the Heat up 90-88 and 1:22 left in the fourth quarter on Thursday.
The call was overturned, resulting in a jump ball that the Heat won, leading to a Jaquez three-pointer.
But Spoelstra’s issue was with referee Brandon Adair appearing to delay giving the go-ahead for the free throw, which gave Utah time to challenge the call.
“I know what they talked about in the coaches’ meetings at the beginning of the year that you’re not allowed to do the shenanigans and delay the game and stand in the middle of the paint and tie your shoe and all of these things,” Spoelstra said.
“If they tell us not to do that, the Miami Heat do not do that. We go stand on the line. Maybe we should work on some of the trickery. Brandon did a couple of pump fakes and that gave them enough time to challenge.”
Pullin plucked
The Memphis Grizzlies on Friday poached former Gators guard Zyon Pullin from the Heat’s G-League team in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Pullin, who signed a two-way contract with the Grizzlies, is averaging 24.8 points, 7.7 assists and 6.7 rebounds in his past six games.
The Heat gave Pullin a two-way contract following June’s NBA Draft but removed that designation after an underwhelming performance in summer league. The Heat then gave that two-way deal to Josh Christopher.
NBA teams control the rights to players on standard contracts and two-way contracts. The Heat’s two-way contracts are being held by Christopher, injured guard Dru Smith and point guard Isaiah Stevens.
Keshad Johnson, who had been signed to a two-way deal, was recently promoted to a standard contract. Smith had been expected to get that two-way deal before sustaining a season ending Achilles’ injury.
This story was originally published January 10, 2025 at 4:27 PM.
