Chris Bosh Shows He Is Tough Enough as Miami Heat Take Game 1

Chris Bosh leads Miami Heat in Scoring in first playoff action in four years

Often considered the third wheel of the Miami Heat's superstar trio, Chris Bosh definitely had something to prove today as he took the court.

The forward has taken jabs in the media ever since the trio was brought together as many felt that he was a distant third in the 'Heatles' chain of command behind LeBron James and Dwayne Wade.

His early struggles can likely be attributed to a tough adjustment to the style of play in Miami. You can hardly blame him for having troubles in that respect. After all he was used to being THE guy in Toronto and instantly becoming the third option on a team can be a hard pill to swallow.

He didn't let the criticism of him as an individual or even of the team as a whole get to him, as he remained a positive member of the team even during the toughest of stretches.

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In a postgame interview, Bosh spoke like a true leader as he put the win in perspective:

You're not going to play an 82-game season and work this hard just to lie down when you get there. They're a very gifted team. ... We do expect this series to have all close games. As long as we prepare for that and get that in our minds, we'll be fine.

They may have absorbed their fair share of criticism this season, but if Bosh can perform like he did today they'll have that much greater of a shot of silencing their critics and hoisting the championship trophy later this spring.