Erik Spoelstra faces the Chris Bosh dilemma as the NBA Finals loom
The Miami Heat have an important decision to make ahead of game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. For the last three games of the Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics, Heat coach
Erik Spoelstra decided to go with Chris Bosh coming off the bench.
Initially, the idea was to give him limited playing minutes as he had just returned from an abdominal muscle strain. However, with the rotation working so well in games 6 and 7, the Heat are considering going
with the same rotation in the NBA Finals as well, which would mean that Bosh will get less playing minutes than usual and will have a kind of role that James Harden plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Any All Star starter would take offense to such a move being pulled by the coach but Bosh says that he does not mind at what position he plays and how much playing time he gets. He just wants to contribute towards
the success of the team and will do whatever the coach feels is necessary to get that accomplished.
“It’s working out, so I’m cool with it. Doesn’t matter to me either way. Its coach’s call and whatever he wants to do I’m fine with it,” said Bosh during team practice on Monday.
Bosh suffered a strained abdominal muscle in game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semi Finals against the Indiana Pacers and left the game in the middle. He did not play in the rest of the series and missed the first
four games of the Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics as well. The Heat had to make some adjustments in his absence, but inspired play from LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined with good contributions from the Heat role players helped the Miami keep
their season alive in his absence.
Bosh returned in game 5 but coach Spoelstra decided to use him off the bench and limited his playing time to only 14 minutes. He finally found his rhythm in game 7, where he played for extended minutes. He scored
19 points in the game, including a 3 of 4 shooting performance from beyond the arc. His game gave Miami the third scoring option they desperately needed and the Heat were able to pull away with a victory.
Now the question arises as to what way should coach Spoelstra use Bosh in the NBA Finals. It is a trend in Heat basketball that LeBron leads the way for the first half and Wade usually comes big in the 2nd.
Wade has been sluggish in the first halves this postseason and it usually takes him time to adjust into the game and get into a rhythm.
With an opponent like the Thunder, a lack of scoring from the part of Miami will turn into a huge deficit as OKC are quick in scoring points. In such circumstances, having the third scoring option of the team
play limited minutes does not look like a good call.
If Bosh can manage the full game, he should start and contribute on both ends of the floor. The sooner he gets involved in the game, the more chances Miami have of winning that game. Bosh helps spread the defense
which allows James and Wade to take easy shots in the paint.
“I think he can handle more minutes. Each game we’ll get better. When Chris went out we had to make some adjustments, and also when he came back in. We’ve had to reinvent ourselves in the process and we think
we’ve improved during that reinvention,” said Spoelstra.
The ideal situation would be for Bosh to play extended minutes and contribute on both ends, particularly on offense, and the Heat role players keep on performing well in their roles like they did when Bosh was
out.
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