Inside The Heat

How Miami Heat’s Twitter Reacted To Jaime Jaquez Jr. In Win Over Philadelphia 76ers

Miami Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 31 points in the Christmas victory against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Jayden Armant

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Steal of the draft, plays like a veteran, rookie of the year.

Yep, we’re once again talking about Miami Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr., who led the Heat to victory Monday night over the Philadelphia 76ers with 31 points and 10 rebounds.

As long as he keeps having these breakout performances, we’re going to continue talking about him.

And so will Heat fans, who were in admiration of Jaquez Jr.’s Christmas Day debut.

Jaquez Jr. is only the fifth rookie in league history with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds on Christmas Day. The only other rookies to do so were Wilt Chamberlain, Patrick Ewing, Walt Bellamy, and Oscar Robertson.

So yeah, pretty elite territory for Jaquez Jr. There are now legitimate conversations around him joining the Rookie of the Year Race with Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama.

“Let's put him now in the ROTY conversation,” one user said. “Clearly he's toe to toe with Wemby and Chet on this!! And might be the dark horse to win the award!!!”

There were some concerns after Miami blew their 21-point lead in the third quarter, especially in the midst of a poor shooting night from 76ers star Tyrese Maxey. However, their lackluster period was reciprocated by a strong finish, including 10 points each from Jaquez Jr. and Bam Adebayo.

Duncan Robinson also came alive in the final period to help the Heat clinch the victory.

The Heat play the Golden State Warriors (15-15) Thursday night.

Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.

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Jayden Armant
JAYDEN ARMANT

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