Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heat view themselves as tough enough vs. Bulls
CHICAGO — The amusement was not Tom Thibodeau bemoaning the play of Miami Heat power players Udonis Haslem and Chris Andersen, aggression that the ChicagoBulls coach insists has gone over the line in this Eastern Conference semifinal series.
It’s that he didn’t go far enough, failing to mention Chris Bosh, Shane Battier and the other grinders who have helped push the Heat to a 2-1 lead in the best-ofseven matchup that continuesMonday at 7 p.m. at the United Center.
“People, for some reason, give us the name ‘Hollywood,’ I guess because of how we were put together,” Haslem said of an approach built on the style and sizzle of Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. “But, man, there’s substance there, too.
“We play just as hard as anybody else, and we lay it on the line every night just like everybody else.”
No, the Heat’s 104-94 Game 3 Friday victory was not artsy. It hardly offered the best of James or Wade. But it was a game when the Heat stood up to all challenges.
“I don’t think we played our game,” Battier said, “which is OK. As we’ve said all along, you have to win with different styles in the playoffs. We didn’t get out in the open court as much as we’d like to. It was much more ground and pound. But that’sOK. We’ve proven thatwe can win thisway.”
Forgotten ishowthen-IndianaPacersexecutiveLarry Bird said during last season’s playoffs that his team turned soft against theHeat.
That, to the Heat, is the untold story, the toughenough part of the story.
“Listen,” Battier said, “this organization is builtonmaking the tough plays. And toughnessisn’tjustthrowing elbows after a whistle or something like that. It’s about making tough basketball plays that hurt, that are tough. Andwe have a bunch of guys who make those plays that are essential to this team.”
Statistically, Game 3 looked like one of theHeat’s smoother operations, closing at 50 percent from the field, 8 of 20 on 3-pointers and at 86.7 percent from the line.
But it wasn’t. It was Bosh grabbing 19 rebounds, Battier using all six of his fouls, Andersen matching the energy of JoakimNoah.
“You can’t win a championship being pretty and shiny,” Boshsaid. “You’re going to have to get dirty. You’re going to have to play physical. You’re going to have to dive on the floor. You’re going to have to do things that are extremely tough.”
To a degree, even in the Big Three era, that has been the foundation.
“I think people forget just two years ago we were a half-court, grind-it-out kind of team that was trying to beat you down,” Bosh said. “Just because we’ve moved to more of a free-flowing offense, and we’re more spread a little bit, that doesn’t mean that we are just a run-and-gun team.”
The running was limited Friday, with just three shots on fastbreak opportunities.
“When it comes down to it,” Boshsaid,“we’re going to have to get stops. And in the playoffs, it’s not easy to do that. We just have to have that tough mind frame. We can’t worry about perception of the team. And if push comes to shove, we know whatwe have to do.”
To this point, “push” and “shove” have become pri- mary components of the series.
“We compete however we’ve got to get it done,” Haslem said.“We’ve got different guys that can do different things and we’ve got depth and have whatever we’ve got to do to get it done.”
For now, the Bulls are clinging to the hope that toughness can remain their trump card. But it’s a card theHeat know they can put into play, aswell.
“Yeah,” Battier said with a smile, “but that will never [be] the story line for this team. I think people who follow us understand that and know our team and knowwhat our organization is built upon. From the outside world, that’s not a convenient storyline, so that will never be the case.”