Fontecchio, others shine in Heat's takedown of Knicks

Jaime Jaquez Jr. – Grade: A+

The Miami Heat are playing great basketball to start the year, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. deserves a good chunk of credit. He once again had a fabulous performance leaving very little for Heat fans to critique. He was aggressive but still in control. What I really enjoyed about his performance was that even when he made a mistake it did not change anything about his approach. He was relentless in his approach, and it paid huge dividends. Jaquez Jr. has always been a swizz army knife and that continued logging 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. He shot 8/12 from the field but did go 0/2 from three. His shot profile is a good sign of his mentality. He was never settling, always trying to get a paint touch. He then used these paint touches to break down the defense. One play stands out in particular, Jaquez Jr. was running on a fastbreak catches a lob from Andrew Wiggins, then he missed the dunk. Jaquez Jr. stayed engaged in the play and ended up getting a layup shortly after. He is Relentless.

Simone Fontecchio – Grade: A

Simone Fontecchio has been better than anyone could of ever predicted. Against the Knicks was another display of what he provides. It jumps out how well he knows how to take advantage of his matchups whether that be cutting, driving, or shooting. He seems to make the right play the vast majority of the time. He has replaced Duncan Robinson spectacularly. It is not just his shooting either, it is the way he plays the game. He fits into the free flowing offense perfectly. He just simply knows how to play the game. He does not “wow” you with many special plays, but he simply just doesn’t make mistakes and then takes advantage of every opportunity.  I expected Fontecchio to be an end of bench player, but if he continues to put up performances like this then it will be hard to keep him off the court.

Other notable grades

Bam Adebayo – Grade: C+

Andrew Wiggins – Grade: C

Davion Mitchell – Grade: B

Kel’el Ware – Grade: C-

Nikola Jovic – Grade: C

Dru Smith – Grade: B

Previous games grades

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