Bosh finds comfort zone

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By A.Sherrod Blakely
CSNNE.com

MIAMIChris Bosh was no different than most gangly, high school big men during the late-1990s.

When it came to role models who looked liked him, played the game like him, options were limited.

But in Kevin Garnett, Bosh found a kindred spirit.

"It's more inspiration, seeing when he first came in, seeing another guy who is long, thin and can handle the ball and shoot it . . . it was kind of where I was in high school," Bosh said.

But this is not high school - not even close to it.

And those same qualities that made Garnett one of his favorites coming up, he's now intent on doing all he can to squash them every chance he gets.

While players and coaches from both teams have tried to downplay individual matchups as much as they can leading up to Sunday's Game 1 matchup, there's no escaping the attention they'll receive or the impact that individual matchups will have on this series.

Boston played Miami four times during the regular season, and came away victorious in the first three.

Those three wins were by a total of 16 points.

In their fourth and final meeting earlier this month, Miami won by 23 points.

The importance of that fourth win is not lost on the Heat players.

"For us, if we lose the last game (against Boston), not only we get swept during regular season, we lose home court advantage in the second round," Miami's Zydrunas Ilgauskas told CSNNE.com. "That's tough psychologically. We needed that game. It was probably one of the bigger games from the regular season for us."

For most, the regular season was a dress rehearsal for the big show which for Boston and Miami, begins on Sunday.

As the Miami Heat went about finding their way through the first 82 games, it appeared the journey seemed longer for Bosh than his more acclaimed superstar teammates Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.

Think about it.

Wade is a perennial all-star who already has an NBA championship.

And while James is still searching for his first title, he does have a pair of league MVP awards to his credit.

With those two representing two-thirds of this new Big Three, how much room is there for a guy like Bosh?

In the early part of the season, the Heat didn't seem to know quite how to use Bosh. And Bosh wasn't exactly sure how to make it work, either.

So the end result was a lot of ups and downs, both for Bosh and the Heat.

But the last couple of months, Bosh appeared to have finally found his comfort zone with the team.

And it's not just a coincidence, his teammates say, that him being more comfortable coincided with them playing better team basketball.

That trend they saw near the end of the regular season, has carried over into the playoffs as well.

Bosh is averaging 19.8 points and nine rebounds per game during the playoffs, both better than his regular season numbers.

But the game that his teammates look to as exemplifying his impact on this team, was the way he played in Miami's Game 5 win over Philadelphia.

He had 22 points and 11 rebounds, which in itself makes for a pretty good game.

But it was the little things he did that, more than his points and rebounds, stuck out.

"His attitude going into Game 5 (against Philadelphia), it shows just how important this journey is to him for us to move on," said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. "Four times on the floor, just sprawling for a loose ball. That doesn't show up in a box score. But what it shows you, is a guy that's never been out of the first round and understands the moment and will do whatever it takes to help us win."

Wade is among the other Heat players to recognize this quality in Bosh.

"When you're playing this game, to help your team win, you always have do more than one thing to help your team win," Wade said. At that point (in Game 5 against the Sixers), Chris really showed us his willwanting to win, and getting out of the first round. That just gives your team a lot of confidence, especially in you. We look forward to seeing a lot more of that. Because that other guy, No. 5 on Boston (Garnett), he's going to do that. He's going to do all the little things. That's what makes him great. It's not because he puts the ball in the basket. It's because he does little things like that. Chris is a guy that we look to as a leader, and him doing things like that will help us."

The willingness to be that kind of player, has always been there for Bosh.

It just took a while for Bosh and the Heat to figure out, that's what he has to provide in order for Miami to have a shot at living up to the lofty expectations.

"It's been a difficult year," Bosh admitted. "But with that said, it's supposed to be like that. Nothing is supposed to be easy. We're all going to go through frustrations. You have to learn from your experiences and just get better and better. The more I played, the more I began to see what my role was."

A role that's different than the one he had in Toronto when he was the face of the Raptors franchise.

While his role has changed, Bosh's game remains very much the same even as some prodded him early in his career to bulk up.

He's added strength since coming into the league in 2003, but he remains a power forward known more for his finesse than physical play.

And that's OK.

Bosh's game isn't breaking any new ground.

In fact, the blueprint for tall, gangly players to fare well in the NBA - Kevin Garnett - is still going strong.

A. Sherrod Blakely can be reached at sblakely@comcastsportsnet.com.Follow Sherrod on Twitter at http:twitter.comsherrodbcsn

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