Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh Must Play Better for the Miami Heat to Succeed

Dwyane Wade skillfully side-stepped questions about why he wasn’t more aggressive in the opening game of the NBA Finals last night, but it was clear to everyone who watched that Wade and Chris Bosh must provide more support for LeBron James for the Miami Heat to have a serious chance at winning this series. From the AP: “LeBron James put up the kind of point total he never had in the NBA Finals before, and it still wasn’t enough. It will take more from the rest of Miami’s Big Three for the Heat to get past the Oklahoma City Thunder. Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combined to go 11-for-30 from the field in Miami’s 105-94 loss to Oklahoma City in Game 1 on Tuesday night, totaling 29 points to go with the 30 put up by James. Wade was an inefficient 7 for 19 from the field but did have eight assists. ‘I was attacking, I was getting my teammates shots and I got shots for myself. Attacking to me is just being aggressive. Some nights, I have big nights scoring and some nights I don’t,’ Wade said. ‘That’s been this season. That’s just the way that it’s designed for me.’ The Thunder’s trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden teamed up for 68 points and stormed back from 13 points down to defeat the Heat, who got 59 points from their three top scorers despite coach Erik Spoelstra shortening his rotation. ‘We know we have to have more production for sure,’ said James, who had never scored more than 25 points in his two previous finals appearances. ‘We have to have more guys in there to give me and D-Wade a rest, and Shane (Battier). Shane played a lot of minutes. But Spo will figure that out.'”