SAN ANTONIO — No matter what angle or point of view you take, Chris Bosh always will rank third — No. 3 in the Miami Heat’s Big Three pecking order. If LeBron James is the self-proclaimed biggest and easiest target on the planet, Bosh is not too far behind.
Some might even rate Bosh, oh say, fourth or fifth, in the Big Three.
“Validating yourself is a constant process,” Bosh said. “I really let that go a long time ago. I don’t care about those things. I just care about the game.”
Caring spilled way over to impacting Sunday when Bosh was in on two of the very biggest plays of the Heat’s 98-96 Game 2 victory that evened the best-of-seven NBA Finals at 1-1.
With the Heat trailing by one, LeBron James drove and kicked out to Bosh, who stuck a 3-pointer with 1:18 remaining for the lead Miami never relinquished. That put the Heat up, 95-93, and after a James free throw, Bosh helped place the game beyond reasonable and logical danger by feeding Dwyane Wade with a pretty feed that resulted in a layup with 9.4 seconds left and a 98-93 advantage.
“That was the icing on the cake,” Wade said of the play.
“It was a broken play,” said Bosh, who finished with 18 points. “They came and doubled LeBron and they denied him, so I wanted to make a play to the basket. Everybody was hugged up to the outside, trying to get a steal. … We had both guards and bigs to get down to the baseline and be ready to receive passes. He did a great job. He’s done it before, so as soon as I saw it was Dwyane, I was able to make a good pass and let him do the rest.”
And of the big 3-point shot, well, Bosh knew it showed James’ confidence in him. James has been criticized in the past for kicking out shots and not taking them himself.
“It was rewarding in that it was a huge play to help us win,” James said. “I just [saw] it develop the whole time.”
So James drives. James passes. Bosh catches. There’s still a pretty big part of the play remaining: the make.
“When you have the chance you take it. He was unselfish enough,” Bosh said. “I had plenty of time to shoot the ball, and you let repetition take over.
“We’ve always played together unselfishly, since we came together. Me knowing how LeBron is, you always have to be poised and ready to shoot the basketball. He’s the most unselfish player I’ve ever played with, and especially with the talent that he has playing the game, the way he plays the game. Even if he is hot, he’ll still hit you if you’re wide open.”dy was hugged up to the outside, trying to get a steal. … We had both guards and bigs to get down to the baseline and be ready to receive passes. He did a great job. He’s done it before, so as soon as I saw it was Dwyane, I was able to make a good pass and let him do the rest.”
And of the big 3-point shot, well, Bosh knew it showed James’ confidence in him. James has been criticized in the past for kicking out shots and not taking them himself.
“It was rewarding in that it was a huge play to help us win,” James said. “I just [saw] it develop the whole time.”
So James drives. James passes. Bosh catches. There’s still a pretty big part of the play remaining: the make.
“When you have the chance you take it. He was unselfish enough,” Bosh said. “I had plenty of time to shoot the ball, and you let repetition take over.
“We’ve always played together unselfishly, since we came together. Me knowing how LeBron is, you always have to be poised and ready to shoot the basketball. He’s the most unselfish player I’ve ever played with, and especially with the talent that he has playing the game, the way he plays the game. Even if he is hot, he’ll still hit you if you’re wide open.”