Chris Bosh - Letters to a Young Athlete

By Pat Riley

Dear Chris,

There are decisive moments in your life that change everything for you and the people around you, moments when deep truths become crystal clear. On any day of your life a moment like that can happen. We become connected forever to these moments; they open the way to more and even greater experiences.

As a player, coach, and executive in the NBA for many years, I have experienced so many joyous and painful moments. They are never far from me: Going about my life, there will always be something that happensa meeting, a call with a friend, a song, a picture on a walland Im right back there again, often seeing the moment with more clarity and insight.

Some moments still seem incredible to me; I still think, How did that happen? A prime example is what I think of as your defining moment as a member of the Miami Heat. A year after winning your first championship with the Heat in 2012, against a great OKC team anchored by Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Kevin Durant, we found ourselves in a real battle with the San Antonio Spurs trying to defend our title. San Antonio was a great team, coached by the venerable Gregg Popovich and led by Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili. The Spurs were up three games to two and were ready to close us out on our home court to win the title. They had outplayed us to this point. Now, it was late in Game 6, and things looked very bleak for us: We were down 9592 with 17 seconds to go. We had the ball and were attacking their defense. They needed one stop on defense and one rebound, and the game would have, for all intents and purposes, been over. We needed a scorea three or a two, anything to just keep us alive. Coach Spo set up a high double screen for LeBron, who got a great look at a three to tie the game. The clock was winding down under 10 seconds. LeBron missed, and the ball caromed off the rim and bounced very high. This is a make-or-miss league, but there are no coincidences. Now both teams needed a rebound. If SA rebounded the ball, we would have to foul. As the ball was in the air, our fans, who were all standing, started to boo the arena staff, who were already beginning to put out yellow rope to cordon off the court in anticipation of an SA win.

The ball seemed to take forever to come down. The SA defense had switched every screen, and you ended up being played by Tony Parker, a bad rebounding matchup for SA, as you had ten inches in height over him. You were such a smart, intuitive player. You knew you had the advantage, you just needed to make sure you did not oversize the match-up opportunity and get called for an offensive foul on Parkers block out by pushing him. With exquisite timing, you jumped as high as you could after the ball. You did not wait for the ball to come to you. You had great hands, like a vise; you grabbed the ball with very little time on the clock, and with great poise found the most dangerous three-point shooter in the history of the NBA. Ray Allen had been here before. Anticipating that you would get that rebound, Ray began to blindly backpedal to the corner. After years of doing these kinds of things, his court awareness was spot-on. Ball in the air, feet in the air was a coaching phrase that I used a lot in teaching the fundamentals of meeting the pass for a shot so you would be on balance. Ray caught the ball as he planted his feet perfectly behind the three-point line. Right off his toes he leapt in the air, squared his body to the basket, eyes laser-like in their focus on the rim, and let it fly. His follow-through was complete as three Spurs players ran desperately toward him to get a decent contest on the shot. I was standing right behind Ray, thinking that we got a great look by LeBron, we got a saving offensive rebound by you, and we got a pinpoint assist by you, the perfect pass right into the soft hands of our best clutch shooter, Ray Allen. In this dire situation you could not ask for anything more. Make or miss! The crowd was in a petrified state, eyes closed, mouths opened in an Oh My God look, praying for a miracle moment. With 5.3 seconds left on the clock, the ball went in, tying the game 9595 and inciting the pure, thunderous delirium of a home crowd going crazy. Oh my! The feeling of that adrenaline hit, and the momentum shift in the minds of the players is hard to describe. Our players were not going to let that moment slip by.

At the end of overtime, up by one, we needed a final stop. The Spurs set up a play for Danny Green, who was their Ray Allen. It was a multidirectional play with a lot of player movement and screens. As the ball was passed to the weak-side corner, Green was open to catch it, but you recognized the late switch and closed on him hard. When Green jumped to shoot, youwith great timing and without foulingblocked the shot, sealing our win. Those dreadful gold ropes disappeared. There would be no SA celebration in Miami that night. Your rebound, assist to Ray, and blocked shot on Green showed everyone your versatility and greatness, the spirit and heart to do the little things that win games when it counts. Two nights later the Miami Heat went on to win Game 7 at home and celebrate another championship. LeBron was the Finals MVP, deservingly. All the players who played in that series had their moments, but for anyone who knows anything about winning, and coming up big, you will go down in Miami Heat history as the player who made the greatest sequence of plays ever to assure a championship. There are no coincidences. Chris Bosh forever.