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NBA FINALS: HEAT v THUNDERJune 21, 2012Chris BoshMIAMI, FLORIDA: Game Five Oklahoma City Thunder - 106 Q. I know for you and Dwyane this means the world, but you have lived these last two years with LeBron James, learning who he is as a person and as a player. How significant do you think this is for him? And just take us through a little of this ride and seeing the changes in the player and the changes in the person. CHRIS BOSH: I mean, I think it meant everything to him, just the work that he put in. After last year, we talked about it, we had a conversation at one point during the summer, and I asked him, I said, well, what have you been doing? How are you? I just wanted to check on him. He pretty much said he hadn't came out of his house. I think it did that to all of us, where we couldn't even see the light of day because it hurt so much. But just to see the perseverance that he's had and just to witness every day, day in, day out, his progression as a leader and his will to win, I mean, it's been incredible. Just the playoff run that he's had, I'm really proud to call myself a teammate of his. It's just been unbelievable to witness. Q. Everyone remembers the image of you coming off the floor last season. Given the pain of that, and you've talked about it a lot, can you put into words just what was going through you in those final moments when you got to carry the trophy off the court? CHRIS BOSH: Man, it was everything for me. It was just erasing all those memories, getting that bad taste out of my mouth. I live with that every time I walk down that hall. I forgot cameras were there last year, but whatever. But I think it was good for me in the long run because I could watch every single day what we had to go through and what I had to go through. So any time that I was thinking about just taking a play off or taking some time off or not working that day, doing the easy thing, I thought about that moment. Every loose ball that was around this year and this postseason, I thought about that moment, and that helped me build my will, and it helped me to get to this point. Q. I wanted to ask you, Coach talked about you sacrificing and playing differently after coming from Toronto. Can you reflect back now?  Can you compartmentalize it now and talk about how Toronto helped prepare you for what you have done now? CHRIS BOSH: Well, I mean, just being in that position, coming from there to here was very difficult. But you know, having those growing pains, learning to work through hard times, it wasn't the best of times all the time out there in TO. We had a lot of losing seasons, but we had a lot of good times, as well. But I mean, I think I built a lot of character out there because night in and night out, no matter what happened I came to work, and that wasn't the easiest thing to do. But each and every year I believed in my team, and I believed in everything, and I kept working hard. And it really showed me that you have to continue to work hard. So when I came here, I came here a better player. They asked me to play a different role here, but it was all in the sacrifice of winning. I kept telling them, whenever you need me to put some points on the board, I'm going to be here. Q. Other athletes have had long droughts before they won a championship in the NBA, obviously Michael Jordan, but that was a different era. Can you even put yourself in the pressure that LeBron faced in this Twitter era, this instant‑gratification era that he's in and having to deliver? CHRIS BOSH: Nobody can. Nobody in the world can understand what he's went through this past two years, since the moment that we came here. We've made decisions, good and bad, but throughout everything, he deserves so much credit, just the will that he has and the great player that he is. It's second to none. I think he's just continued to prove it. You know, no matter what, he believed in himself, and he got back to being himself. I told him at one point, like being yourself is good enough, you don't have to do anything, you don't have to prove anything to anybody. Play this game the way you love, and everything will take care of itself. You know, I don't know if he really heard me, but I hope that he took it to heart. It's worked out pretty well. Q. With all the scrutiny you guys have dealt with over the last two years, do you think the narrative now changes on this team? And do you guys even care about that? CHRIS BOSH: We don't care. We don't care because we know how everything changes so fast. Any time, if indeed it does change and everybody says, I knew you guys were going to do it and this is it, we're going to be like, no, we're going to remember the times when it was tough when we were down and everybody was kicking us. You know, no matter how many times we got knocked down, we got right back up and we got right back in that game. You know, we have each other, and that's the most important thing. I'm so proud of my guys. Q. Erik Spoelstra was just in here a couple minutes ago and said one of the keys to winning it all this year is that you moved to the five. Is it weird to you knowing that from where you came from in Toronto to where you are now, defensive anchor at center NBA champion, is that weird? CHRIS BOSH: It is. It is weird. It's not weird being a champ, it's just weird the subtitle that I have. I really didn't see my role when I envisioned being a champion. But you know, I just wanted to do whatever it took, and when I came here I knew in my mind that things were going to be a lot different. You know, I kept getting moved around, and I was asked to change quite frequently, but I was with it. I believed in the coaching staff. I knew that Spo and the coaching staff saw something, saw some way that I could help. After they asked me to move to the five, I didn't fight it. I just wanted to be the best big man I could be. I knew how important defense was and is, and I just wanted to make sure I could play the best basketball I possibly could at that role for this team. Q. Aside from LeBron, you probably took the most heat of any player in the past two years. Do you feel a sense of vindication right now? CHRIS BOSH: Absolutely. You know, I think for all of us, especially for me, everything that I've been through, just fighting, just acting like I don't hear stuff, and just having the perseverance to keep pushing forward is just a sweet feeling. I know a bunch of people made fun of me and said I was soft, but you can't be soft playing this game, especially at that five, you know what I'm saying? We wanted it so bad, I just wanted it so bad, I didn't care what anybody said, I didn't care what anybody thought. All I thought about was pushing forward to get that trophy. You know, I worked hard. I thought about that stuff all the time. So I appreciate the people. My hats off to you for giving me the fuel not to quit. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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