When The BIG Three decided to join forces in Miami during the most lucrative NBA Free Agency period ever, everyone knew that Wade and Lebron would carry the scoring load and that CB1 would take the backseat. However, I bet no one thought that Chris Bosh would be the Heats key ingredient to success. Bosh hasn’t been his dominant self and has lower numbers than usual, but that was expected. With a high ankle sprain keeping Bosh out of the Heats four games last week, Miami went 2-2 (with the win coming against the lowly Raptors and barely managing a win over Detroit) and struggled on offense and defense. Since Bosh’s return Miami beat OKC, demolished the Cavs, and looked strong while doing so. Bosh is the most irreplaceable player on the Heat roster. If Lebron was to go out with an injury, then the Heat has the same type of player in DWade to carry the load. Likewise, if Wade is out, then the Heat has Lebron to carry the scoring load from that position.
However, who replaces Chris Bosh when he is out? Who can do the dirty work and allow Lebron and Wade to get out into transition?
The Heat were already without Udonis Haslem and lacked an inside presence, which was evident in last Thursday night’s game in New York. Lebron hates playing in the post and looked absolutely atrocious while missing 17 shots against the Knicks. Erick Dampier, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and Joel Anthony are not offensive options and cannot clean up the glass like Bosh does. When DWade and Lebron have 16 rebounds and 11 rebounds respectively, that means one thing. They are under the basket rather than being able to fill their lanes and get easy fast break points. Bosh is a solid rebounder and allows his two running mates to get out on the break. The Heat are at their ultimate best when Bron Bron and Flash are running the floor and getting easy dunks, while the diligent Mr. Bosh is snagging dem boards. Also, without Bosh, the Heat miss a dependable screener in the pick and roll and someone who can drag the opposing teams power forward or center out of the lane. Wade and James struggled mightily down the stretch last Thursday to get clean looks inside the paint and mainly had to go one on one or at times one on five. If Bosh is in the lineup, the opposing defense has another player to respect and a dump off option for Wade and James to go to off ball screens.
With Bosh’s return in Sunday’s win against the Thunder and Monday’s win against the lowly Cavs, the Heat had another scoring threat the opposing defense had to respect. Defenses can’t sag back on Bosh and help out with Wade and Lebron like they can with Joel Anthony, or Big Z. This was evident in both of the Heat’s wins as bosh dropped 20 points and 7 boards with a block on Sunday and 10 points, 7 boards and 2 blocks on Monday. Wade and Lebron were also able to get out on breaks easier which lead to shooting 52% against OKC and 49% against the Cavs. The Heat were able to hang on to their number two spot in the East as well.
Welcome back CB1. Do Work!
Alex Rosencutter is an NCAA basketball player and kinesiology major at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa. Originally from Kenosha, Wisconsin, this hoops addict and die hard Miami Heat fan, who is obsessed with old school hoops, has a fever for basketball and the only prescription is more basketball.
