Bosh explains why he has been surprised by the Heat. And more appreciation for NBA bubble
Chris Bosh is a Miami Heat supporter as one of the five Heat players whose jersey is retired by the organization, but he wasn’t always a Miami Heat believer this season.
“In the East, we were looking at the Celtics, who had been strong all year,” Bosh said to the Miami Herald of which teams he considered as the top contenders to win the Eastern Conference. “We were looking obviously at the Milwaukee Bucks, with Giannis [Antetokounmpo]. Then even Toronto started coming on pretty strong late.”
Bosh isn’t alone, as the Heat entered the season with the seventh-best odds to win the East at 20-to-1, according to BetOnline. And the fifth-seeded Heat became the first team seeded fifth or lower to play in the NBA Finals since 1999.
“I think anybody that says, ‘Oh, I knew the Heat would be in the Finals,’ they’re lying,” said Bosh, who won two NBA championships with the Heat in 2012 and 2013 before his playing career came to a sudden end in 2016 because of blood clot issues. “The only thing that I did know for sure was that they were going to be a problem and you were going to have to beat those guys. Just in a situation like the bubble and having that reset, it’s almost kind of like a mini-camp or training camp to get things going again. Preparation and getting ready, that’s one of the strengths of [coach Erik Spoelstra] and as well as the organization. They’re going to come in, they’re going to do their jobs, they’re going to work hard and they’re going to be ready to play.
“I am surprised they made it to the Finals. But at the same time, knowing Spo and knowing Pat [Riley], they wouldn’t have it any other way. Jimmy [Butler] and the way that he leads that team, they’re just a bunch of scrappy guys. You can tell that they’re right in their wheelhouse, where they’re comfortable and where they prefer stuff.”
As a retired big man, Bosh has been watching Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo closely.
Adebayo, 23, entered Sunday’s Game 6 of the Finals averaging 17.4 points on 55.6 percent shooting, 10.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.1 steals this postseason. Adebayo and Antetokounmpo were the only two players in the league who averaged at least 15 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block during the regular season.
“I just love the way Bam plays the floor game,” Bosh said. “He’s patient, he lets the game come to him. It’s always kind of a weird thing to say, but he does. He’s very unselfish. He gets his teammates involved, looking for second and third situations. But I think as we saw in Game 6 [of the Eastern Conference finals], he has a lot of offensive capability as well, and that’s always there.
“He can definitely, definitely continue to improve. In my opinion, I think if he just stays aggressive and continues to work on that leadership quality of just bringing it, bringing that intensity and bringing that moxie, that fervor that the team needs and knowing that he belongs, it’ll work. He’ll be fine. But he just continues to improve and really, really pump up his game.”
Then there’s 20-year-old Heat rookie Tyler Herro, who has caught Bosh’s eye. Herro became the youngest player in NBA history to score at least 20 points in a Finals game when he finished with 21 points in Game 4 on Tuesday.
“This dude has no fear,” Bosh said. “He has no fear — good shot, bad shot. He’s not afraid of that moment. That’s what I love about him, and he has been doing that all season. You can tell he’s one of those guys that he feels that he belongs there. He got snubbed for the All-Rookie First-Team. He’s one of those guys that plays with a chip on his shoulder. He plays like he has something to prove. Sometimes you need that. That can be a lost art sometimes.”
With young talents like Adebayo and Herro on the roster and Butler establishing himself as one of the NBA’s best players this postseason, Bosh believes “the future is very bright” for the Heat.
“They just have to keep their head on straight and just want it,” Bosh said. “Want to improve, want to be better, want to win a championship and be good every year.”
THANKFUL FOR THE BUBBLE
The fact the NFL schedule has already been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic emphasizes just how effective the NBA’s Disney bubble has been in keeping the virus away.
The Miami Dolphins are one of the teams that has been impacted by the New England Patriots’ COVID-19 outbreak. The Dolphins’ Week 6 game against the Denver Broncos has been postponed and rescheduled for Nov. 22, which is the Dolphins’ original bye.
“I think it’s a huge testament to all the people behind the scenes that made it happen,” Heat forward Duncan Robinson said of the NBA bubble in advance of Sunday’s game. “I don’t think necessarily people back home realize how much is going into each and every single game, and that’s really outside of the players but really people behind the scenes working with the league. They’ve been here pretty much 100 days, as well. So all that sacrifice, we certainly owe it to them and the forward thinking of the league to really be the first to kind of have this idea and actually follow through with it from an execution standpoint.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ The NBA will not take any action for the play in the third quarter of Game 5 in which Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis looks to hit Heat forward Jae Crowder in the face. A foul was not called on the play. The league has access to multiple camera angles and did not feel further action was warranted.
▪ On falling out of the starting lineup and completely out of the rotation for part of the postseason before emerging as a key player off the Heat’s bench in the Finals, rookie guard Kendrick Nunn said: ”It’s tough, but I did believe that [my number] was going to get called and things would change. It was just a matter of matchups and who we were playing and things like that, and when they would need me to come in and give us a spark. I’m capable of doing that.”
▪ When asked about Heat wing Jimmy Butler’s historic Finals series, Robinson said: “It’s hard to put into words. He has a lot of those moments where you don’t quite have the words. I think the thing that has been most impressive for me is that he has done it on both ends of the floor. Just every single possession, doesn’t take plays off and he plays 47 minutes. Literally, whatever it takes to win.”
This story was originally published October 11, 2020 at 12:19 PM.
