Miami Heat Are In The "Dark Days" According To Jaime Jaquez Jr.

Alex Toledo | Mar 19, 2025

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) huddle with teammates Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) Duncan Robinson (55) and Davion Mitchell (45) and Tyler Herro (14) during the first half of their NBA game against the Boston Celtics at Kaseya Center on March 14, 2025, in Miami. / David Santiago - Miami Herald (dsantiago@miamiherald.com)

After the blowout loss in New York on Monday night, Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez characterized what the team is going through.

"It's frustrating", Jaquez said. "You know, we're going through the dark, dark days right now. I think as a team, we just got to come together and find a new fight." Jaquez continued: "That's something that we've been talking about and, I think overall, just come together and find something to rally around."

Jaquez has gotten extended playing time lately with Andrew Wiggins in and out of the lineup. Jaquez is averaging 10.7 points, seven rebounds and 4.3 assists in 29 minutes the last three games.

"Collectively, we got to just come together and figure something out because obviously, no one wants to keep going through this," Jaquez said. "No one wants to do this."

This is the longest losing streak Erik Spoelstra has dealt with in his stint as coach, which began in 2008.

“We're all getting tested. I said this before, including myself, There's no one that's absolved from this," Spoelstra said. "I have not come up with enough answers for this team. I have to do a better job, you know. Our group has to do a better job. We have to put our feet in the into the dirt and hold our ground at this point. You know, you always have a choice. It doesn't mean that you're going to win or not, but we have to take strides where we're making progress, and it felt like we were making progress even with some of the losses in the last, you know, three weeks. We felt like we were making strides."

Spoelstra described the human aspect of trying to overcome a streak like this.

"We've been racking our time, our brains, everything, you know, trying to find solutions for that," Spoelstra said. "We have to collectively get our mind right. All these losses don't necessarily, they don't have to impact the next game. That's the mental discipline and that is a tough human condition to fight. It's human nature to stack up some of these memories and let that affect us for the next game. But I think this is a great challenge for every single one of us to overcome and to have a breakthrough."