Chris Bosh is back, and he’s the same as ever.
Bosh made his return to the floor on Sunday night in the Miami Heat’s preseason opener after missing the tail end of last season with a blood clot on one of his lungs. And, well, he looked good.
But he sounded even better.
Bosh went for 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists on 6-of-11 shooting through 23 minutes of action. Sure, it’s only preseason. And yes, the Heat would lose to the Charlotte Hornets 90-77. But it’s more important that, in his first taste of real NBA action in around eight months, Bosh played well. And while it’s not equally important that he was in full Chris Bosh form during postgame interviews, it still matters.
When asked about his performance, Bosh kept it real, per the Palm Beach Post‘s Jason Lieser:
Bosh on his first semi-real game back: "Nothing big, just normal. If you put a fish in water, he's gonna swim."
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) October 5, 2015
After that, Bosh then proceeded to plant a Chris Bosh flag in the game of basketball.
Seriously:
Bosh on basketball being taken away from him during blood clot scare: "Nothing was taken from me. I own the game. You like that, huh?"
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) October 5, 2015
Well, yeah, we like that Bosh. The only thing that’s missing is an accompanying video of you photobombing Dwywane Wade or Goran Dragic or Hassan Whiteside or Luol Deng or Amar’e Stoudemire or Erik Spoelstra. And maybe, if you can find the time, as well as the naive courage, you could photobomb Pat Riley at some point this season. That would really put the finishing touches on your goofy, lovable, huggable, off-court persona.
Anyhow, it’s great that Bosh, even though it’s crazy early, looks comfortable on the floor. He didn’t seem overwhelmingly slow, and his offensive movements, both on and off the ball, were on point.
There’s no overstating Bosh’s importance to the Heat this season. They look stacked on defense, but they still have a host of issues that can, and likely will, prevent them from being elite.
Wade is no longer an everyday player. Dragic has never been the starting point guard for a really good team. Whiteside’s Cinderella story hasn’t yet spanned 50 regular-season tilts. Deng has a ton of mileage on his body. The bench, though intriguing on paper, is old. And flawed. Stoudemire is still a turnstile, and his largely back-to-the-basket, pass-light offensive skill set is outdated for today’s league. Gerald Green has yet to piece together consecutive seasons of above-average basketball. Mario Chalmers is the only option at backup point guard. The defense, from top to bottom, even with Whiteside, figures to be a disaster.
Enter Bosh.
At 31, the Heat need him to be a focal point for what has to be one of the league’s most dangerous offenses. That’s the only way Miami sniffs the championship conversation. It’s the only way the Heat keep pace with the Eastern Conference’s upper echelon.
And if Bosh can provide more humor, more comic relief, more Bosh-y comments, like these along way, that’s good too.
