With the Miami Heat getting a crucial 128-120 win against the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night, the team will be led by star performances from Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo. Just as Herro's sensational night for the Heat set the tone with Adebayo, it would be Jaime Jacquez Jr.'s performance that was eye-opening in more ways than one.
While Jacquez has had an impressive third season, making him one of the candidates for the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award, the 25-year-old has recently displayed a new aspect that could be a permanent part of his game. As the UCLA product finished the game with 21 points on eight of 13 shooting from the field with four assists and two rebounds, he also made four of six shots from three-point range.
This will be the second time this month that Jaquez has made more than one three-point shot in a game, the last time Jaquez made multiple deep shots was on Jan. 19, before last Tuesday's win over the Brooklyn Nets where he made two. Friday saw Jacquez get hot from beyond the arc, as his game involves getting into the paint or downhill from mid-range, he will be asked if he is specifically focusing on his deep shooting.
"No, not really. I'm just trying to continue my game," Jacquez said via the team's YouTube page. "And if I get shots, I just shoot them. I work on my threes every day. It's something I constantly try to get better at. And shooting is not linear. You'll have ups, you'll have ups and downs... so just keep shooting with confidence."
Heat's Erik Spoelstra on Jaime Jacquez Jr.'s improvement
While the Heat is preparing for the playoffs, the team invites Jacquez to add another aspect to his game, but the player himself will say that this season, he focused too much on his three-point shot during the fall of his sophomore year. His strength is his downhill attack, if the three ball can be complimentary, it could work in Jaquez's favor as head coach Erik Spoelstra talked about this improvement.
"I think it's just a byproduct of Jaime being a great competitor. Does that mean he's going to shoot four-on-six every night? I don't know, but he wants to make an impact. And you have a game that feels like, Jaime is going to put his fingerprints on the game in some way or another," Spoelstra said.
At any rate, Jaquez and Miami will look to continue that in the next game on Sunday against the Detroit Pistons.
