Play on the ball, right?

Look, I understand the role of an enforcer in the NBA. Tyler Hansbrough made Wade bleed a little and Haslem wanted to protect his boy. But Hansbrough went for the block and Wade pulled the ball down. Hansbrough went for a standard jumper. Haslem says he went for the ball but since when do you try to block a shot with two hands? In my book, the play was flat out dirty, cowardly and a perfect imbodiment of the Heats’ identity crisis. They act like big dogs and play like cowards. Am I wrong?

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