Injury will keep Bosh out of All-Star Game.
Heat forward has injured right calf
Chris Bosh’s all-star participation for this year is over, before he ever took the floor in the city where his career began.
The Miami Heat forward has withdrawn from Saturday’s three-point contest and Sunday’s All-Star Game, citing a strained right calf. Bosh — who will remain in Toronto for the weekend — was replaced on the Eastern Conference roster for Sunday’s game by Atlanta’s Al Horford, chosen by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to fill the vacated spot.
Portland’s C.J. McCollum will fill Bosh’s spot in the three-point event, keeping that field at eight as planned.
“I am honored to be selected to participate in all-star weekend festivities and will still be here to support my fellow East all-stars,” Bosh said in a statement released through the Heat. “But I will also use this weekend to try to heal and focus on the second half of the Heat season.” The circumstances of how and when Bosh strained his calf were not made clear. He worked out Wednesday night in Miami in preparation for the threepoint contest, flew to Toronto on Thursday and was in the audience at the NBA All-Star Technology Summit on Friday morning before joining the other East all-star selections for interview sessions with reporters.
Bosh did not mention the injury in that media day availability.
About four hours later, the NBA and the Heat announced Bosh wouldn’t play.
The timing of the injury, and that it’s a calf problem, have eerie similarities to the scare Bosh went through last season. Shortly after the 2015 All-Star Game in New York, Bosh was diagnosed with a blood clot on his lung — which, he believes, formed when he was kicked in the calf during a game weeks earlier. The calf was a problem for several games, but the blood clot was the far more daunting challenge and forced him out of the second half of the season.
Rising Stars Challenge:
Zach LaVine had 30 points and seven rebounds and the United States team beat the World team, 157-154.
In the game featuring some of the best rookies and sophomores in the league, LaVine geared up to defend his slam dunk title Saturday night by making 13 of 20 shots to earn MVP honors.
Los Angeles Lakers sophomore Jordan Clarkson added 25 for the Americans.
Milwaukee Bucks forward Jabari Parker had 12 points for the U.S.
Former Bucks coach Larry Drew, who is now an assistant with Cleveland, led the U.S. squad.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 30 points, and Emmanuel Mudiay had 30 points and 10 assists for the World team.
Celebrity game: Win Butler, the lead singer of the Montreal rock band Arcade Fire, had 15 points and 14 rebounds to lead Canada to a 74-63 victory over the United States.
Tennis star Milos Raonic, who is 6 feet 5 inches, threw down a two-handed dunk to give Canada a 37-28 halftime lead.
Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry had eight points and six rebounds in 18 minutes for the U.S.