Chris Bosh Says He Will Take The Challenge And Rebound Better

Before Wednesday’s game against his former team, Chris Bosh went 10 straight games without a double-digit rebounding effort. Now, there are a lot of things that can play into that, but when you’re the starting center for the defending world champions, things like that don’t go unnoticed. Because his rebounding numbers are down for the season and his play has been inconsistent in that area, Bosh has been the target of criticism, hearing about it following games and practices, and it’s clear that he has had enough. Chris Bosh joined 790 The Ticket in Miami on the Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz to talk about the one thing that has happened during his time in Miami that has surprised him, his lack of rebounding this year, whether Mario Chalmers is still the player the other guys yell at the most and if he thinks newly acquired Chris (Birdman) Andersen is scary.

On the one thing that has happened during his time in Miami that surprised him:

“Losing in the Finals. (Host: You said before that even when you were in that hallway, you thought you were going to win.) Yeah, that’s the realization that it’s over. I never would have thought that. When you watch the Finals you don’t think about who loses, you just see who wins. That’s all they really show on camera is who wins. They’re the ones holding the trophy – they have the hats, the T-shirts, the towels – and you see the celebration and that’s all you really think about. That’s all I could think about. It’s like, ‘There’s no way we’re going to drop this; this is ours for the taking.’ You kind of get caught up in that and how many games left do we have to win to win this thing instead of really just playing the series and playing the game. It’s a long process and if you’re fortunate enough to pull it off then that’s great, but it never crossed my mind – ‘What if we lose?’ was never a thought process. It was just when it happens,not if.”

On the rebounding questions:

“Here’s my take on rebounding, and we do have to improve. That’s a part of it … yeah, we need to rebound to win games, but I know everyone is on my case or somewhat with our rebounding, which is just kind of a stigma kind of thing. What happens when I start rebounding better? Then what happens? Is it end of story? (Host: I don’t know what you just did with this interview. Would you rather address rebounding?) Well, it seems to follow me. I remember doing interviews after games and after practice and I kept hearing ‘rebounding’ and I’m like ‘damn.’ I’m like, ‘OK, I will take the challenge and I will rebound the ball better.’ What happens when I start rebounding the ball, will I get a pat on the back or something?”

Whether Mario Chalmers is the player that the guys pick on most still:

“I think as time goes on things will get a little bit tighter, and not only with Mario but with the whole team. I think we will get on each other a lot more because for one thing, of course we know what it takes to win, so if we feel ourselves really not putting up the effort we’re to the point now where we’re almost halfway through the season and everything else is downhill, so there’s really not any next week or tomorrow, we have to start putting it together right now. We haven’t put it together yet, but as things start to get more tense as the months pass by, and after the All-Star break, the playoffs are here like that and we need to start playing better. The scary thing is if we play better than we are right there. We don’t feel like we have played our best basketball. We’re still trying to work new guys into the system and everything. We’ve only played 30-something games with Ray Allen and you know how it is, when you accumulate more talent it’s a challenge because you have to learn how to work together and you have to sacrifice a little bit more. We understand it’s going to take time, but we definitely want to turn the corner because there are some good teams out there.”

Is Birdman scary?

“No, he’s cool. He’s from Texas, too. (Host: But he looks like a weirdo.) He’s pretty normal and a pretty regular guy. He’s just tatted up. Nothing strange.”