Last season, despite losing to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, this still can't deny that the Heat have played a successful season. They finished their first record in the East with 53 wins and 29 losses, and were just a stone's throw from returning to the Finals. And, even after losing the game, they managed to keep last season's squad, and they are still one of the favourites to win the new season.
In this Heat, if there is any team leader, it must be Jimmy Butler, and in addition to him, it is the 25-year-old young center Bam Adebayo, who executes tactics diligently on the inside, only 2.06 meters tall but supports the team's interior line. And that's reminiscent of the team's previous generation of interior overlord Chris Bosh. During the Big Three period, although Bosh was the one who sacrificed the most, no one dared to despise him.
You know, he has been named to the All-Star a total of 11 times in his career, and there are only a few people in the entire history of the NBA who can do this. However, at the peak of his 32 years, Bosh chose to retire, which also led to the Heat's subsequent demise, which did not slow down until the last two years. So, what really happened that year? Let's take a look at Bosh's story!
Show your talents and become the Dragon King of Toronto!
In high school, Bosh, who attended Lincoln High School, has shown great talent, averaging 20 points, 14 rebounds per game and leading the team to an impressive record of 40 wins, so he became the number one high school student in Texas without dispute. After entering college, under the guidance of the famous coach Paul Hewitt, Bosh became the main core of the team in his freshman year, averaging 15.9 points and 9 rebounds per game, and Georgia Tech has also become a strong team under his leadership. Such an excellent ability to lead the team, so that Bosh has long been the scouts, coupled with the support of coach Hewitt, Bosh directly chose to enter the NBA after graduating from freshman year, in the 2003 platinum generation, he was selected by the Toronto Raptors with the fourth pick.
Although the Raptors at that time was still Vince Carter, Carter was still happy to do some blocking and dismantling with this rookie to help him quickly learn from experience and adapt to the NBA as soon as possible. In his rookie season, he averaged 11.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, but the Raptors only had a poor record of 33 wins and 49 losses, which also made the conflict between Carter and the team more and more serious. In the 04-05 season, Carter began to show a negative attitude in the game, and in the end, the team also made a trade-off, using Bosh as the core training and sending Carter away.
Thanks to the cultivation of the team, Bosh began to show a very good interior strength in the 05-06 season, averaging data per game to 22+9, although the team's record is poor, but Bosh's ability is absolutely unquestionable, so he is also the first time to enter the All-Star. In the 06-07 season, he continued to maintain the 22+10 level performance, and led the Raptors to a record of 47 wins and 35 losses, returning to the playoffs. In the years since, Bosh has been one of the best big forwards in the league, but unfortunately the team's reinforcements are not good, and the record has never been able to break through the first round of the playoffs.
In the 09-10 season, Bosh played his career-best 24 points and 10.8 rebounds, but in stark contrast, the team's record was only 40 wins and 42 losses. Eventually, that summer, Bosh chose to flee.
The big three of the Hao group are willing to sacrifice for the championship.
In the summer of 2010, a game-changing event occurred when Bosh, James, and Wade gathered in Miami to form the most terrifying Big Three in history. However, although the team's lineup is almost invincible on the books, it should be known that these three star players, who have led the team alone before, are players who need to have the ball in hand to play their greatest power. Therefore, someone of the three had to make a sacrifice, and Bosh was naturally the first choice. In the 10-11 season, his usage rate was only 23.5%, the lowest year of his career except for his rookie season. In addition, in order to ensure that James can have enough space to impact the basket, Bosh had to leave the low post he was good at, and instead look for opportunities in the middle and long distances. But even so, he was able to contribute 18.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, and even volunteered to play a blue-collar role in the playoffs, but unfortunately they eventually lost the championship in the Finals.
However, in 2012, the Heat showed a stronger sense of oppression than the previous year, the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics, Bosh came on with an injury, not only the previously active Garnett perfect limit, but also 10 of 8, efficiently cut 19 points, 8 rebounds, for the team to enter the finals again. And that year's Finals, the Heat, who had a pretty good run-in, easily beat the Thunder 4:1, and Bosh finally tasted the championship.
In the 12-13 season, Bosh continued to play a blue-collar role, and he only contributed 12.1 points and 7.3 rebounds in the entire playoffs, but it should be known that he put more energy into defense, and the Heat at that time often needed Bosh hardtop inside. Against the mighty Spurs, in Game 6, Bosh snatched a key frontcourt rebound in the final minute and found Ray Allen in the bottom corner and hit the all-time three-pointer. The Heat are also fighting seven games and defending the championship, and Bosh has played a very important role.
Instinct peaked again, but was forced to retire due to illness.
In the 13-14 season, the Heat, who aspired to defend their title, had a lot of problems, although they once again reached the Finals, but in the face of the Spurs team at the peak of the NBA's historical team basketball system, they were completely powerless, and they were defeated by the Spurs old boys in the shameful way of creating the biggest net win margin in the Finals. After the failure to defend the title, the Heat also ushered in the "loose dinner", James returned to Cleveland, announcing the disintegration of the indispensable Big Three. At this time, the team was quite a problem, Wade's knee injury had already caused him to retire from the altar, and the team could only carry out tactics around Bosh. Bosh not only returned to the low post this year, played quite a good performance, but also developed a three-point projection, averaging 21.1 points and 7 rebounds per game, but unfortunately only played 44 games due to injury, and Wade also suffered from injuries, and the Heat only achieved a record of 37 wins and 45 losses this season.
In the 15-16 season, although Bosh averaged 19.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, under his and Wade's leadership, the Heat's tactical system is very similar to that of the Heat today, Whiteside Town guards the inner line, Dragic controls the whole team, Joe Johnson and Lol Deng look for opportunities on the flanks, they have no players with explosive data, but the record is exceptional. Just when Heat fans were looking forward to Bosh's return to the top, bad news came. Because there is a blood clot in the body that is found, it is very likely that embolism will occur during strenuous exercise, and once it appears, it will be life-threatening if it is not treated in time. Bosh was unable to pass an NBA medical examination and eventually had to retire at the age of 32. At the jersey retirement ceremony prepared by the Heat for Bosh, he once again staged a once-passionate roar celebration, which also contained all kinds of sadness and unwillingness, even if he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, but for Bosh, not being able to continue his career is a regret that he will never forget in his life.