Versatility Of Chris Bosh Poses Problems For Spurs

Chris Bosh only made a pair of jump shots in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Such a scenario could normally doom the Miami Heat since he’s scored more than half of his points in the playoffs via mid-range and three-point jumpers. It didn’t matter this time around, though, as Bosh showcased an off-dribble game that harkened back to his days as one of the league’s most prolific scorers for the Toronto Raptors.

Bosh scored 18 points in Game 2, but it felt like far more. The thunderous dunk over Tim Duncan and go-ahead three-pointer in the waning moments is what we’ll remember most, and that’s fine. Any credit Bosh receives these days is better than none at all, and each were momentum-swinging plays in a game that constantly teetered on the brink.

But it was his consistent and surprising aggression as a penetrator that kept the Heat afloat in times when LeBron James thought it best to facilitate or was simply struggling to finish.

It’s easy to forget now, but it wasn’t long ago Bosh was considered a physical marvel: a 6-11 power forward with feet like a man six inches shorter. He used that unique blend of size and quickness to wreak havoc from the mid-post as a face-up scorer, constantly beating his man off the bounce and finishing at the rim before help could come from the weak side. Most of Bosh’s top 10 dunks as a Raptor, you’ll notice, fall under that umbrella:

He doesn’t attack with such frequent aplomb anymore. While some of that is due to an inevitable shift in Bosh’s offensive style as his body ages, more of it has to do with the specific role he’s asked to play in Miami. Bosh has developed into one of basketball’s premier jump-shooters with the Heat, often acting as weak-side safety valve and designed spot-up option. Rare are occasions he even dives to the basket after setting a ball-screen; he’s far more likely to ‘pop’ than ‘roll’ these days.

Obviously, pigeonholing Bosh’s offensive game in such a manner has worked out well for Miami. The Heat’s offense has been consistently devastating in the Big Three era, and especially so as Bosh has grown more and more comfortable as a threat from beyond the arc over the last two seasons.

Still, those constraints betray the unique talent he possesses. Bosh doesn’t post-up or operate outside Spoelstra’s offensive system for Miami. He’s firmly entrenched as a supporting piece these days. Though that’s a role he knowingly signed up for in the summer of 2010, it’s one that consistently lends itself to undue criticism. There’s a reason Bosh has become an internet meme waiting to happen, and it’s not just his oft-goofy persona.

We want ‘more’ from Bosh because we’ve seen him do it as a Raptor. The problem is that the Heat are asking even more of him than that – it’s just difficult for the fan’s eye to see. Spoelstra, obviously, understands better than anyone.

“He’s arguably our most important player,” Spoelstra said of Bosh after Game 2. “We’ve said it now for four years, and it’s not just because of that shot…

If he’s not scoring or doesn’t have big rebound numbers, from the outside it seems everyone is so critical about his game. But for us, he has a lot on his plate as a two-way player on both ends of the court.”

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Bosh’s worth to the Heat on defense is close to obvious. Few big men in the league are fleet enough to play in Miami’s aggressive, trapping, swarming system. Bosh not only executes it, but – along with LeBron – is the chief means behind its implementation. He’s never made an All-Defensive Team and received just four points in the voting this season, near crimes that are just another example of the public underestimating Bosh’s influence on the Heat’s success.

But such misestimation was far more difficult after Game 2. Like it or not, offense talks louder than defense, and it’s a specific kind, too. Spot-up jumpers and the threat of them don’t get people excited; off-dribble attacks do, and from the outset on Sunday, Bosh took full advantage of the combination of skill and athleticism that once made him a franchise player in Toronto.

For his first basket in Game 2, Bosh catches at the elbow after receiving a pin-down from Rashard Lewis. Many Heat sets begin with Bosh facilitating from here, where his threat as shooter, driver, and passer looms largest. That’s exactly what this screening action is, too: a start. Bosh usually surveys and moves the ball in this situation, getting the Heat to another side or hitting Dwyane Wade on a duck-in to continue the possession. This time, though, he sizes up Tiago Splitter and gets to his right shoulder after a nifty spin. Bosh is almost unstoppable when he’s this decisive. There’s just nothing Splitter – a great defender, it should be noted – can do here if he’s left on an island:

Spoelstra leverages that advantage again later in the first quarter, albeit with a wrinkle. One of Miami’s pet sets involves running Ray Allen – arguably the best shooter ever – off a staggered pin-down to free him for a three-pointer or quick-hitting drive off a curl. There are variations to that action, of course, but it always looks something like this:

Allen is a 6-4 shooting guard; Bosh is a 6-11 center/power forward. Just a few possessions earlier, the Heat ran Bosh off the same staggered screen that Allen scores on above. Players this size aren’t supposed to be coordinated or skilled enough to exploit the advantages this set presents. Bosh, obviously, isn’t most players his size. He curls off Chris Andersen’s screen in a flash, catches, and takes just one dribble before finishing over Tim Duncan on the other side of the rim:

Bosh scores off yet another pin-down to begin the fourth quarter. Allen is the lone screener this time, and it’s obvious given Bosh’s aggression that the play was drawn up for him to attack. Just as the seeming inanity of Allen setting a down-screen for Bosh as opposed to the other way around, the obvious intent here can’t be discounted. After multiple successes putting the ball on the floor, Bosh is ever-comfortable doing so again at this point in the game. Using Allen in this manner is especially fun, too. Watch as Tony Parker stays attached to his hip even as Bosh separates from Splitter after the pick, yielding an easy driving lane:

This might have been an anomaly. Bosh isn’t normally such an active and aggressive penetrator, but that he was so effective playing that role in Game 2 certainly constitute’s a dilemma for the Spurs going forward: Guard back to combat a drive, and Bosh will splash an easy jumper; crowd to contest a shot, and Bosh will get right to the rim. Catch-22.

What makes Bosh great is that whether or not he plays that way again won’t necessarily speak of his impact on the game. It would certainly be easier to notice and thus glean more praise, but Bosh and the Heat are far beyond playing for recognition. They just want a third consecutive championship, a feat for which Bosh would be directly responsible whether people know it or not.

*Statistical support for this post provided by nba.com/stats.

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