Bosh at his best

NBA Finals Review

The Miami Heat won their first championship in the LeBron James Era for two reasons: Miami is a deeper and more cohesive team than OKC and Miami’s Big 3 is better than OKC’s.

Game 2: Shane Battier scores 17 points. Thunder non-Big 3 score 16.

Game 3: Heat non-Big 3 score 27 points. Thunder non-Big 3 score 32. James Harden drops 9.

Game 4: Mario Chalmers goes for 25 points. Thunder non-Big 3 score 19. James Harden drops 8.

Game 5: Mike Miller scores 23. Russell Westbrook follows his 20-32 performance in Game 4 with a 4-20 night.

While two unavoidable factors are the disappearance of James Harden and the surprising depth of the Heat, both stem from the genius of Miami’s stars. James, Wade and Bosh defended and scored at the high levels expected of them.

However, their willingness to play help defense (leading to the elimination of Harden) and their effort to make the extra pass brought the role players into the fold at the perfect time. LeBron James deserves all the credit he will receive. He flat out played at the level that everyone always knew of him (read: complete domination at both ends).

On the bright side for Thunder fans such as myself, the team is young and this is how the NBA works. The Thunder blew away the adage of playoff basketball being a veteran game all the way until the final step.

Also, while the humility of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook already goes unquestioned, this loss could do wonders for the heads of players such as James Harden and Serge Ibaka. If OKC is going to win a title they will need to keep Ibaka and Harden in the fold. Just before the Finals, a roundtable of ESPN basketball writers unanimously voted that Harden was a max contract player. I found that absurd then, and it is quite clear that it is absurd now. Harden is a very good player but he showed himself to clearly not be the type of player you can build a championship team around. Same goes for Ibaka.

While Ibaka and Harden will both undoubtedly be offered large contracts in the coming years, this loss can be seen as a lesson in the necessity of quality teammates. James and Bosh ditched their old teams to make a fearsome trio. Harden and Ibaka would be hard pressed to find a better destination than Oklahoma for their future championship aspirations.

The Big Guy

Why Chris Bosh’s Agent is Smiling

Intimidation.

Bulls fans love watching the Heat fail. Almost as much as we love watching our Bulls win. And with the D Rose and the Gang sitting at home as nothing more than a painful memory, Bulls fans’ best bet for basketball bliss comes from a South Beach beatdown.

Last night offered just that. The Indiana Pacers smacked the Heat to the tune of a 94-75 Game Three victory. The loss not only set the Heat back 2-1 in the series, but clearly created a chemical imbalance in team chemistry. Dwyane Wade shot an anemic 2-13 from the field, shot two free throws and finished with five points. Perhaps most telling? The old hockey stat of +/- shows that the Heat were outscored by the Pacers by 25 points over the 37 minutes Wade spent on the floor. LeBron James, on the other hand, shot 10-22, shot three free throws and finished with 22 points. James earned a -9 on the hockey line.

What threw the Heat offense into such disarray? The absence of Chris Bosh. That’s right. More than anything, the Heat miss Chris Bosh. Why?

1. Chris Bosh is good. He averaged 18 PPG and 7.9 RPG this season. Not amazing numbers, but solid. A third option on a team with one alpha dog (Wade) and one wanna be alpha dog (James) can only do so much. Bosh was shooting 52% from the field this postseason before going down with abdominal issues. Last postseason Bosh shot 47% and put up 18.6 PPG and 8.4 RPG. Plain and simple, Bosh is an efficient and integral part of the Heat offense.
2. The Heat lost their scapegoat. Whenever the Heat struggled last season the first finger would always point at the Boshtrich. The stats above prove that blame to be largely undeserved. Bosh may not bang down low as much as fans would like him to, but guess what? He never has. Bosh put up double-digit rebounding numbers three times in his career, but those were all in Toronto when he was their primary rebounder. If Joel Anthony isn’t grabbing boards for Miami, what is he doing? Bosh is out there to knock down baseline and elbow jumpers. He is very good at that. But when the Heat couldn’t overcome the Mavericks depth last year, fans blamed Bosh for not posting Superman numbers rather than blaming their real problem, their poorly constructed roster.
3. The Heat are slighty above average without him. Basketball is a team sport and two guys a team does not make. Without Bosh, the Heat are left with exactly one player capable of creating his own shot— Mario Chalmers. Chalmers showed signs of growth this season, shooting a career high 45% from the field, but lacks the consistency to be a legitimate third option on a championship caliber team. Where else are the Heat supposed to look for offense without Bosh? The geriatric likes of Shane Battier and Juwan Howard? Shocking as it may be, Chris Bosh is the glue that holds the poorly constructed puzzle that is the Heat roster together.

The Big Guy