In a Miami Heat season of questions largely unanswered, third-year forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. seemingly has found a solution. Perhaps he has a shot at a shot, after all.

In closing 3 of 5 from beyond the arc in Thursday night’s loss to the Toronto Raptors, Jaquez made it seven out of nine games with multiple 3-pointers, after doing so just three times over his first 57 appearances of the season.

“Just continuing to be in the gym,” Jaquez said of the season-closing success, with the Heat closing out their regular-season road schedule Friday night against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena, before closing out their regular season on Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks at Kaseya Center. “It’s something that I’ve been working on since I’ve been in the league.”

Jaquez said he did not allow his early-season struggles get in the way of his process.

“They say the process is not linear,” he said. “There’s going to be ups and there’s going to be downs. But as long as you finish up, that’s where you want to be.”

So now not solely attack mode, with a growing threat from beyond the arc, in order to create additional space.

“For me,” he said, “I feel like I’ve been getting a lot more open looks at the three. And I just have the confidence for myself and my team.

“Coaches just tell me to let them fly. It’s part of the game in the NBA. You got to be able to shoot them.”

So conversations up because attempts up because confidence up.

“Once you shoot more,” he said, “there’s more chances of them going in.”

Total collapse

While there has been ongoing question about individual defense, guard Tyler Herro said what has been lost amid the struggles on that end has been typical Heat cohesion.

“I’ve been on teams that have been very good defensively,” Herro said of his seven Heat seasons. “I’m not saying I’m the best defender, but the unit has to be connected and we have to be on a string. Guys have to cover for each other. Guys have to have each other’s backs. That’s flying around, making extra efforts, doing all the little things, getting extra possessions, rebounds, and just playing harder on that end.”

The late-season dive had the Heat No. 12 in the NBA entering Friday in defensive rating for the season, but 29th in the 30-team league in that metric over the 13 games entering Friday, amid that 3-10 run.

“It takes a whole unit,” Herro said, “to feel connected to really have a good defense.”

So, instead, it has had the Heat at a loss.

“We had way more months of good habits than what we’ve seen the last three weeks,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But these three weeks of really poor defensive games are overwhelming the rest of what we’ve done the rest of the season.”

Injury report

In addition to Nikola Jovic (ankle) and Dru Smith (foot) being ruled out ahead of Friday night’s game in Washington, there also was acknowledgement of ongoing lingering issues.

That had Herro (foot), Norman Powell (groin) and Davion Mitchell (shoulder) also on the injury report for Friday night’s game.

Woe, Canada

With Thursday night’s loss, the Heat closed a season 0-4 against the Raptors for the first time since 2018-19, which also is the Heat’s most-recent lottery season . . .

The Heat at Sunday’s season finale will recognize schools from its “How Low Can You Go?” green initiative. Top-performing schools included J.P. Taravella High (Broward) for first place in energy reduction, Cypress Elementary (Broward) and International Studies Preparatory Academy (Miami-Dade) for second and third, Driftwood Middle School (Broward) for greatest water savings, Ernest R. Graham K-8 Academy (Miami-Dade) for the greatest combined energy and cost savings, and the School District of Palm Beach County for the largest overall energy reduction.