Chris Bosh apologizes to Heat

Chris Bosh apologized to Heat teammates for his poor play against the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, according to Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.

Bosh’s problems have shown most noticeably on offense – where he’s averaging just 11 points on 41 percent shooting – but I believe those issues are largely due to his defensive problem. Bosh (6-foot-11, 235 pounds) has been asked to bang inside with Roy Hibbert (7-foot-2, 280 pounds), and the Heat’s de facto center just can’t do it.

Via Haberstroh:

“It’s hard, it’s difficult,” Bosh said. “Everything you’re going to do in the postseason is difficult. And you’re going to be put in situations you don’t want to be in and you’re going to have to do things that you don’t want to do. It’s part of it, so you might as well get used to it, being miserable and really loving it.”

That quote wasn’t necessarily about Hibbert, but Bosh hasn’t hidden how difficult that challenge has been for him. By the time he exerts all his energy futilely trying to keep Hibbert from getting deep position in the post, Bosh has little left to give on offense.

Miami’s backup center, Chris Andersen, hasn’t fared any better guarding Hibbert. If Bosh can embrace the unpleasantness of this matchup, maybe he can contribute more in Game 7.

But really, the Heat management also ought to apologize to him for not having a viable Hibbert defender whom they trust to play.