We don’t know how Chris Bosh was really feeling in the fourth quarter of Game 5, we don’t really know what the doctor’s orders were on him. We just know that the Heat were getting outplayed and coach Erik Spoelstra decided not to go there — he kept his third best player on the bench in crunch time in Game 5. We also know the Heat lost and now their backs are up against the elimination wall.
So expect to see a lot more Bosh — he could even start, Spoelstra told the media Wednesday. Here’s his money quote via ESPN:
“I’m still going through that thought process,” Spoelstra said after the Heat wrapped up practice in Miami before traveling to Boston. “But I think he’ll be able to handle a bigger load of minutes, and it’ll be based more on how he’ll feel during the game.”
That quote makes me think this may have been more about the doctor’s orders than anything else. Bosh himself said after the game he could have played more.
Bosh had some good runs in the first half — he scored five points near the end of the first, had five offensive rebounds in a stint in the second. But his play at the end of the third quarter was not good — he was 0-1 and -11 in just 3:46 to close out the quarter. He never saw the court again.
That despite the fact in the first half he clearly helped the Heat offense and when Boston was going on an 18-8 run late Miami needed to do something to change the tide. They didn’t and lost.
Now, facing elimination, Spoelstra will hold nothing back. Not even Bosh.
