Dime is the premier basketball magazine, covering the NBA, NCAA, High School, Playground and International basketball - as well as sneakers, fashion and music.
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game NBA season, Bosh is averaging 19.7 points and 7.7 rebounds, connecting on 50 percent of his field goals and 82 percent of his free throws. During a January stretch in which Wade was in and out of the lineup with injuries, Bosh put up four games of 30-plus points and four games of double- digit rebounds. He owned the fourth quar- ter of a Jan. 24 win over Cleveland, scoring 17 in the final frame and finishing with 35 points. The next night, late in the fourth quarter at Detroit, Bosh turned a two-point Miami deficit into a three-point lead with a pair of reverse layups and a free throw, then forced Pistons center Greg Monroe into a critical miss that helped preserve a win for the Heat. So far, while Wade struggles to stay healthy and James still struggles to score in the fourth quarter, Bosh is the most consis- tently productive member of a team that at press time owned the second-best record (18-6) in the Eastern Conference, and was picked by 74 percent of NBA general man- agers in a preseason poll to win the 2012 NBA championship. And look at where it gets him. "When you say 'big' to me, I think of certain players … (Bosh) doesn't fit in with those certain players," said future Hall of Fame center Shaquille O'Neal earlier this season in his new gig as TNT studio analyst. "Don't get me wrong, I respect his game and he's a great player, but part of the 'Big Three'? No way. Dominant big man? No way." Biased? That too. O'Neal is the same one who, after all, called Bosh "the RuPaul of big men" following a 2009 matchup be- tween Bosh's Toronto Raptors and Shaq's Phoenix Suns. "I'm not a popular guy, I guess," Bosh was quoted in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in early February, the day after James and Wade were named starters for the NBA All-Star Game. Bosh finished fifth among forwards in the East. "I don't think I am. I don't appeal to the popular crowd." When asked why – and he's been asked that question ad nauseam by local beat writers, GQ and Dime, among others – Bosh repeats what seems like an answer he's rehearsed many times: I don't know … That's a good question … It doesn't really matter to me … I'm just trying to be the best I can be. He already might be the best teammate. When this version of the Miami Heat formed its nucleus during an unprecedent- ed period of NBA free agency in 2010 – a trio of proven superstars deciding to sign with the same team when each could have chosen to be "The Man" on separate teams – Bosh took the biggest risk. He put his ath- letic legacy on the line by making the big- gest sacrifice to see if this experiment could work. Because as much as NBA fans and media have argued over the Batman-or- Robin status of James and Wade, Bosh has always been cast as Aqua Man. He is the 65