Grading Bam Adebayo and 2 more performances in Heat's preseason win over Spurs

The Miami Heat continued their winning ways in the preseason with a 120-117 victory against the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday night at the Kaseya Center. Similar to their victory against the New Orleans Pelicans, Pelle Larsson made two big free throws. But in this instance, Larsson's free throws put Miami up three points, forcing San Antonio to attempt a three to tie the game in which the Spurs failed to accomplish.

The Miami Heat now hold a 2-1 record in the preseason and have taken this time to get lineups back in sync instead of resting multiple players and waiting to play them in the regular season. There were certain performances that stood out and deserve to be rewarded with a good performance grade. Let's take a look at some notable outings from three Miami Heat players.

Terry Rozier's grade: B

Terry Rozier did not shoot the ball well, making only two of his eight field goal attempts, but Rozier's reads in transition were sensational, especially when it came to finding Bam Adebayo. Rozier finished the game with five assists.

The Miami Heat have been playing up-tempo in large part due to forcing a high amount of turnovers. In Tuesday night's game, the Heat's constant activity and active hands on the defensive end led to 21 San Antonio turnovers and 25 points being scored in result.

Miami has looked much cleaner in transition as opposed to last season, and in large part has been due to the great decision making by their backcourt, Rozier and Tyler Herro. Rozier has found Adebayo on multiple occasions in transition, and hopefully the duo can become one of the more lethal lob threats in the association.

Bam Adebayo's grade: A

Although Bam Adebayo's showdown against Victor Wembanyama was limited, Adebayo had multiple shining moments, finishing the game as the Heat's leading scorer with 20 points in only 24 minutes of play. Adebayo sank two three-pointers, with one of them coming off of a set play with Nikola Jovic setting a screen to free up Adebayo for a corner three.

The trust Erik Spoelstra has in Bam Adebayo to shoot threes has grown tremendously to where the Heat are now running set plays to get Adebayo a clean look from beyond the arc. Adebayo hit another three later in the game, with his second make coming in transition.

Adebayo's growth as a three-point shooter has been wonderful to see develop, and teams are starting to respect Adebayo's shot more as Victor Wembanyama jumped on a shot fake on an Adebayo three in the first half.

Centers already have a hard time guarding Adebayo due to his speed, ball handling ability and being a scoring threat in the pick-and-roll. Now, centers are going to be in an even more uncomfortable position having to now focus on Adebayo's game beyond the arc.

Jaime Jaquez Jr.'s grade: B+

With no true point guard running the second unit, Jaime Jaquez Jr. had a lot of ball handling and decision-making responsibilities. Jaquez thrived in the sixth-man role, scoring 15 points and adding in five assists with zero turnovers. Jaquez was playing at his own speed, and nothing felt forced or rushed whenever Jaquez had the ball in his hands.

Jaquez won a lot of Heat fans over with his polished scoring. Whether it was finishing at the rim or in the post, Jaquez had many moments where it seemed as if Jaquez was a seven-year veteran instead of a rookie. In Tuesday night's victory, Jaquez continued that trend and had some tough finishes in the paint.

Jaquez also had a strong outing when it came to playmaking and setting up teammates for high quality looks. Whether it was in transition or drawing another defender, Jaquez was making the right reads.

If Spoelstra is going to keep the second unit as is, Jaquez will have to play a huge role in making the bench unit effective. Spoelstra has shown trust in his young guys to run the bench unit in the past, with Tyler Herro winning the Sixth Man of the Year in the same spot. With the season Jaquez had last season coupled with the experience of playing in big moments, it appears that Spoelstra has full confidence in Jaquez to be the leading spark off the bench.