Against the Knicks, it was Dwyane Wade's 40 points that got most of the attention, and deservedly so.
But Chris Bosh had a huge impact in keeping the Knicks distant in the third quarter, scoring 10 of his 18 in the third, looking confident the whole time.
It's further proof that his slow start was basically an anomaly, and that he is rounding into the player that we've been used to watching while he was with the Raptors.
Bosh has been steady, basically, since that 35-point outburst against the Suns. But he's showing signs of having more explosive games like that.
The best part is, Bosh is looking and sounding confident. He said before Tuesday's game against the Knicks that he's basically going all LeBron on everyone, trying to prove the doubters wrong. The only difference between him and LeBron James is that Bosh's haters showed up after the early portion of the season, when Bosh was coming up small on occasion.
“For some reason, people think I can't play basketball,” Bosh said. “It gives me an added sense of motivation. I feel in those situations, I have a chance … to go out there and do well, because I know people are watching -- just to shut them up. Just to be frank.”
That's good to hear from the normally reserved power forward.
And if you look at his numbers, he has only been getting better as the season has progressed.
He averaged 13 points on 45 percent shooting with 6.5 rebounds in October (just four games).
That went up to 19.4 on 51 percent shooting and 7.5 rebounds in November.
And in December, he's at 19.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and shooting 52.1 percent (before the Knicks game).
He says he will get to that 10.0 rebound average (he's at 8.2 for the season). If he's determined to get there, that should mean some big rebound games down the road.
After that slow start, everyone said give Bosh some time. It's looking like that patience is paying off.
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