{"id":2850,"date":"2024-11-01T19:35:14","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T19:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=2850"},"modified":"2024-11-01T19:35:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T19:35:14","slug":"heats-jaime-jaquez-jr-shares-ultimate-goal-before-special-mexico-city-game-vs-wizards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=2850","title":{"rendered":"Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. shares ‘ultimate goal’ before special Mexico City game vs. Wizards"},"content":{"rendered":"
As the Miami Heat lost to the New York Knicks last Wednesday night, they look to bounce back against the Washington Wizards, though it won’t be at their arena or even the Kaseya Center. The Heat will travel to Mexico for the contest against their opponent as it will no doubt be a special moment for star Jaime Jaquez Jr. who has ties to the country.<\/p>\n

Being Mexican-American, Jaquez has expressed how proud he is of his heritage time and time again, which will be exemplified Saturday night when he plays basketball in the North American country. The 23-year old expressed how \u201cexcited\u201d he is to perform his passion in Mexico according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to it,\u201d Jaquez said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be exciting. I\u2019m excited, I know the team is, as well. We\u2019re ready to go down and put on a great show, help grow the game of basketball as best as we can and hopefully inspire some fans along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. on his \u201cultimate goal\u201d in Mexico<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Heat's
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If there is one thing Jaquez wants to do during the weekend besides helping the Heat to beat the Kyle Kuzma-less Wizards to bring them to 3-2 on the season, his \u201cultimate goal\u201d is to display the game of basketball and hopefully inspire others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my ultimate goal is to share the game I love with people around the world,\u201d Jaquez, said. \u201cI know it speaks loud to people knowing that I have Mexican heritage and to be able to play down there in front of all those fans, especially those young kids. It\u2019s going to be inspiring for them just to be able to see that. Hopefully we get a new generation, a new wave of great Mexican, Latino basketball players who want to follow this and pursue it as their passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaquez already makes an impact with the Heat as he’s in the midst of his second season in the NBA, his heritage does make him somewhat of a rarity in the league. He is only the sixth player in NBA history to have Mexican citizenship per The Miami Herald and the first with that to be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. on his popularity in Mexico<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As Jaquez has improved with the Heat, it goes back from his four years with UCLA being from California as while his mother has Norwegian heritage, his father is from Guadalajara which is roughly a seven-hour drive from Mexico City, where the game is. He would express to Chiang that his father’s side has a lot of family members living in Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, on my dad\u2019s side? Probably more than I can count,\u201d Jaquez said when asked how much family he has living in Mexico. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people. He\u2019s got so many cousins and aunts and uncles, and they got kids and cousins. I don\u2019t even know half of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Heat deal with injuries to their bench, Jaquez could be in line for a huge workload in Mexico City where the team is for sure seemed as the fan favorites due to the forward’s background. One would think he is already a bonafide star in Mexico since as said before, there is a very short list of players with Mexican citizenship and judging by his rookie season, he could be the best.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no idea, if I\u2019m being honest,\u201d Jaquez said on how famous he is Mexico because of basketball. \u201cI\u2019ve been down to Mexico before, I\u2019ve been to airports and been recognized. I would say it\u2019s a lot like [Miami]. Sometimes you get people who recognize you, sometimes you don\u2019t. We\u2019ll see what it\u2019s like when we get down there. But I\u2019m looking forward to seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaime Jaquez Jr. bringing a home crowd for the Heat in Mexico<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In his rookie season, Jaquez was selected to back to back Eastern Conference rookie of the month honors as well as making it on the NBA All-Rookie first team. He averaged 12.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game while shooting 40.4 percent from the field and 32.2 percent from three-point range in his first year, looking to solidify his role as the sixth man in his sophomore campaign.<\/p>\n

Jaquez has played for Mexico\u2019s national team at one point which was in \u201cthe Pan American Games as a dual citizen when he was 19 years old before switching his international allegiance.\u201d Meaning that this past summer, he was technically a part of Team USA for the Paris Olympics as he was on the select team which helps prepare for the competitive team for success, which they did as they won gold which involved Miami’s Bam Adebayo and Erik Spoelstra.<\/p>\n

\n

Related Miami Heat NewsArticle continues below<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

During the festivities in Mexico with the NBA, the country will be celebrating \u201cDia de los Muertos\u201d which is the Day of the Dead holiday which ends Saturday, the night of the game. According to an NBA press release when they announced the special game, \u201cThe \u2018Dia de los Muertos\u2019 theme will be showcased as part of a variety of in-arena activations during the game, including a specially themed basketball court, and through the league\u2019s fan engagement initiatives around the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been in Mexico when that\u2019s happened,\u201d Jaquez said of celebrating the holiday while in Mexico. \u201cSo I\u2019m actually really excited to see how they all celebrate down in Mexico. I\u2019ve never been down there to see it, so I\u2019m excited to see how it all goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. looks to head a second unit and team to victory<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As Jaquez leads an ignitable Heat bench, he looks to display that Saturday in Mexico as through the first four games of the young season, he has averaged 9.8 points, seven rebounds, 2.8 assists and one steal per game while shooting 39.4 percent from the field. He should be prepared to speak a lot of Spanish when he is in Mexico, but do not blame him if he messes up here and there with the language.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to try my best,\u201d Jaquez said to The Miami Herald. \u201cI\u2019m going to give it my all. Sorry if I mess up. But yeah, I\u2019m going to try.\u201d<\/p>\n

At any rate, the Heat are 2-2 and look to bounce back and start a streak beginning Saturday against the Wizards in Mexico City before returning home Monday to host the Sacramento Kings.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jaime speaks on playing in Mexico!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[159],"class_list":["post-2850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-jaime-jaquez-jr"],"yoast_head":"\nHeat's Jaime Jaquez Jr. shares 'ultimate goal' before special Mexico City game vs. Wizards - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=2850\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Heat's Jaime Jaquez Jr. shares 'ultimate goal' before special Mexico City game vs. Wizards - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jaime speaks on playing in Mexico!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=2850\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-01T19:35:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/01-2024-11-02T022840.566.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MsHan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MsHan\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=2850\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=2850\",\"name\":\"Heat's Jaime Jaquez Jr. shares 'ultimate goal' before special Mexico City game vs. Wizards - 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