Turning up the Heat: A look back at Chris Bosh’s Miami tenure
By Cory Sanning
Former Miami Heat star Chris Bosh has had one impressive NBA run.
Chris Bosh joined the Miami Heat in 2010. But that’s not where this story begins.
When I was younger, basketball was the center of my universe. No matter where I was or what I was doing, I lived, breathed and slept basketball. It was that adoration that led me to the greatest league on the planet, the National Basketball Association.
I was first introduced to Bosh during the 2007 Playoffs, when his Toronto Raptors took on Vince Carter and the New Jersey Nets, and was immediately drawn to his passion for the game. Unlike big men of the past, he could dominate a game in an entirely different fashion.
Instead of posting up and throwing down sledgehammers over nearby defenders like a Shaquille O’Neal, the jab-step midrange jumper was his most deadly weapon. While he was beyond capable of finishing at the rim, it wasn’t his most deadly attribute as a player. The Raptors would go on to lose that series in six games as the Nets advanced to the second round, but I knew the 6-foot-11 guy with dreads was for real.
That admiration came full circle during the summer of 2010, when Bosh flocked to the sunny shores of Miami to join forces with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. His first roar to the AmericanAirlines Arena crowd, which came during the infamous “not five, not six, not seven…” celebration was a sign of things to come for many years.
I have to admit, that first season didn’t go very smoothly for Bosh. His decreased production led many critics to label him as soft, ESPN’s (now FS1) Skip Bayless went as far as to nickname him “Bosh Spice,” particularly following Miami’s third regular season loss to the Derrick Rose-led Chicago Bulls.
That didn’t last long though.