{"id":2288,"date":"2024-10-26T02:53:43","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T02:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotnews.azontree.com\/?p=2288"},"modified":"2024-10-26T02:53:43","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T02:53:43","slug":"erik-spoelstra-jamie-jaquez-jr-reveal-biggest-change-heat-must-make-before-hornets-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotnews.azontree.com\/?p=2288","title":{"rendered":"Erik Spoelstra, Jamie Jaquez Jr. reveal biggest change Heat must make before Hornets battle.."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Erik<\/p>\n

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After the\u00a0Miami Heat lost in brutal fashion to the Orlando Magic\u00a0in the opener, 116-97, the team will be scrambling to pinpoint the issues needing to be corrected before Saturday\u2019s game against the Charlotte Hornets. While the\u00a0Heat look to find the culprit, one suspect was their lack of defensive intensity that was addressed during Friday\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n

The same sentiments were echoed after Wednesday\u2019s opener and even beyond reflection, Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra stayed true to his original assessment. Speaking to the media Friday, he would use the magic word in\u00a0\u201cactive\u201d to describe what his team lacked against Orlando according to David Wilson of The Miami Herald.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just wasn\u2019t one of our more active or big-disposition games,\u201d Spoelstra said Friday. \u201cThat stayed true throughout all of the analysis, whether we were looking at the film, our gut feel, the analytics to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pride ourselves on that side of the floor,\u201d Spoelstra continued. \u201cWe have to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the\u00a0Heat\u2019s loss against the in-state rival in the Magic, things started to take a turn for the worse in the third quarter where they were getting pummeled on offense by the opponent\u2019s elite defense while being unable to gain the physical advantage on defense. Orlando would end scoring a monstrous 39 points in the third period that opened up the game where at one point, they led by as much as 28 points.<\/p>\n

Physicality is the biggest aspect Heat need to stress in foreseeable future<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Orlando Magic guard Cole Anthony (50) drives to the basket as Miami Heat guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) defends during the second half at Kaseya Center.\u00a0Jim Rassol-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The Magic finished shooting 66.7 percent from the field and 50 percent from deep in the period where as the Heat had their worst quarter scoring 18 points on 26.3 percent shooting from the field and 30.8 percent from three-point range. Miami\u2019s defense fell apart in the second half where Spoelstra said that it goes far beyond wanting steals and deflections, it is more about the physical nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want them to feel you,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily going to be the metrics, or steals or deflections every single time. It\u2019s more about doing tough things, being physical, getting teams out of what they typically want to do at every point of attack that we\u2019re there, and that wasn\u2019t the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the preseason, Miami had at least 15 steals in every preseason game and tons of deflections, but Wednesday had the team only recording five steals and nine deflections.\u00a0The Heat also got\u00a0out-rebounded 57-41 as there was few positives leading to the team not playing to their strengths.<\/p>\n

Heat\u2019s Jaime Jaquez Jr. on what they have to do to be the \u201cNo. 1 defense\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jaime Jaquez Jr. led the bench with 13 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists as he spoke heavily on the attention of detail that was missing from the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be a No. 1 defense, that\u2019s what you have to do,\u201d Jaquez said. \u201cAs an organization, as a team, that\u2019s what we strive to do, being able to do all those things. They\u2019re very hard to do. No one\u2019s saying they\u2019re easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the first game disappointment, Jaquez is confident in the team getting back to their strengths as they focused this heavily during the offseason, training camp, and preseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly on, it should be pretty easy,\u201d Jaquez said. \u201cWe had a month of training camp, first game, so coming back in today we just wanted to work on what we know we need to get better as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right after the game, it was a\u00a0huge takeaway for the Heat\u00a0that the\u00a0\u201cactivity level\u201d\u00a0wasn\u2019t there as it was present in the weeks prior as mentioned by Spoelstra.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, the activity level wasn\u2019t there,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cYou don\u2019t need stats to see it, like you can feel it when we\u2019re active. It might not lead to steals, but, yeah, what we\u2019ve felt the last two, three weeks, we didn\u2019t feel that tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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