Observations from Heat’s summer league loss to Suns in Vegas, as Jaquez again held out

The Miami Heat continued Las Vegas Summer League with a 73-70 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Monday at Thomas & Mack Center on UNLV’s campus. Here are some observations from the Heat’s loss to fall to 1-1 in Las Vegas:

▪ Heat first-round pick Jaime Jaquez Jr. missed his second straight game because of a left shoulder injury that he sustained in Wednesday’s summer league contest in Sacramento.

Through the Heat’s first four summer league games, Jaquez has only completed one. He recorded 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field and 3-of-7 shooting from three-point range in 22 minutes in the Heat’s summer league opener at the California Classic last week before hurting his shoulder in the next game.

Jaquez, who was selected with the 18th overall pick in last month’s draft, said Sunday he hopes to return before the end of summer league. But his status for the rest of the Heat’s run in Las Vegas is very much in question.

“I’m going to definitely try [to play],” Jaquez said Sunday. “I don’t want to sit out. But it’s not necessarily up to me. We got to see how my shoulder is feeling and what the staff thinks.

▪ Last year’s Heat first-round pick Nikola Jovic did play on Monday despite a sore left foot. He appeared to be limited by the injury, though, finishing with just three points on 0-of-6 shooting from the field and one rebound in 19 minutes.

This quiet performance comes after Jovic averaged 19 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and eight free-throw attempts per game while shooting 47.1 percent from the field and 5 of 11 (45.5 percent) from three-point range in the Heat’s first three summer league games.

▪ After dominating the Heat’s first game in Las Vegas with 36 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two blocks on Saturday, center Orlando Robinson recorded 15 points and nine rebounds two days later.

Robinson, who is on a partially guaranteed standard contract with the Heat for this upcoming season, shot 1 of 3 from three-point range on Monday. He’s now 6 of 11 (54.5 percent) from beyond the arc in the Heat’s first four summer league games.

Robinson turned 23 years old on Monday.

“Obviously, we know that he can score big numbers in this summer league,” Heat assistant coach and summer league head coach Caron Butler said of Robinson. “But most importantly, he’s trying to find out how he can be an asset to the main team. He has to continue to work on those things in pockets.”

▪ As a rookie last season, forward Jamal Cain shot 37.5 percent on 3.7 three-point attempts per game in the G League and 7 of 20 (35 percent) from three-point range in limited playing time with the Heat.

It’s a small sample size, but Cain’s three-point shooting has been encouraging through his first three summer league games. After shooting 3 of 5 from deep on Monday, Cain is shooting 5 of 9 (55.6 percent) from three-point range during this year’s summer league.

Cain, who is restricted free agent after spending last season on a two-way deal with the Heat, closed Monday’s loss with 18 points, three rebounds and two steals. The Heat can still bring back Cain on a two-way contract or promote him to a standard deal like it did with Robinson.

“He was really efficient, played the right way and the ball found him,” Butler said of Cain’s effort on Monday.

▪ Drew Peterson, who went undrafted this year out of USC, finished with double-digit points for the second straight game for the Heat. He recorded 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep on Monday, but missed an open three-pointer from the corner with 0.9 seconds to play that would have won the game for the Heat.

Peterson scored all 13 of his points in the second half.

Among the pool of players on the Heat’s summer roster who went undrafted this year, Peterson has stood out. He has started in each of the Heat’s first four summer league games, with Heat coaches encouraging him to be aggressive from three-point range.

“The staff stays on me about staying aggressive,” Peterson said. “When I have a little bit of space, shoot the ball and that’s kind of the difference coming to the professional level. You have some space, you got to shoot it. So I’ve been working on being aggressive and I’ve been trying to take advantage of that.”

▪ Heat guard Jamaree Bouyea, who is signed to a two-way contract, stuffed the box score with seven points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

▪ This was a sloppy one for the summer Heat, which committed 17 turnovers in the first half on its way to finishing the loss with 28 turnovers.

▪ Heat owner Micky Arison and CEO Nick Arison sat courtside at Thomas & Mack Center for Monday’s game. The Arisons are in Las Vegas for the NBA Board of Governors meeting.

▪ General manager Andy Elisburg, assistant general manager Adam Simon, head coach Erik Spoelstra, assistant coaches Octavio De La Grana, Chris Quinn and Eric Glass, and vice president of player programs Alonzo Mourning were among the Heat contingent also in attendance for the game.

▪ The Heat now has two days off before playing its third of five summer league games in Las Vegas on Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks (5:30 p.m., NBA TV).