Things were expected to be a little worse in Miami this season after the departure of LeBron James. Chris Bosh didn't expect them to be this bad, it seems.
The Miami Heat stand at 11-13, not a terrible mark but below projections and below the expectations they likely had for themselves. The team lost to the Chicago Bulls on Sunday, their sixth loss in eight outings, in a game they played without Bosh due to a left calf strain.
Bosh could miss a few more games to rest the calf as a precautionary issue, he said Sunday. There is no underlying injury and he hasn't had an MRI to check the extent of the injury, but Bosh will meet with team doctors Monday to get a clearer picture of what he called wear-and-tear.
And so continues a tough season for the Heat where they've struggled to field a complete lineup.
"We're not strong enough to be without someone," teammate Dwyane Wade said of the team's season-long injury issues. "Our team is built to play together, and we haven't had that opportunity to really play together. It's very unfortunate."
There's never a good time for injuries, but Bosh rightly pointed out that going down in the middle of a tough stretch for the team is less than ideal. He put it in more somber terms:
It really sucks that this is hitting me right now. It just seems to be a dark cloud over everything right now. Everything seems to be tough. We're having tough times building the chemistry because we haven't had many minutes together. We just have to stay strong, keep our head above water and try to figure out how to win some games.
Luckily for the Heat, the East has played as expected, and their 11-13 mark is good enough for seventh in the conference. Their play needs to improve, but the bar for simply making the playoffs is sufficiently low that they can be optimistic about emerging from this slump in decent shape.
Bosh had appeared in all 23 of the team's games before Sunday, averaging 21.6 points and 8.2 rebounds with a 22.5 player efficiency rating that would represent his best mark since his days with the Toronto Raptors. Even with him on the court, though, the Heat have struggled, getting outscored by three points per-100 possessions.
With Bosh and Josh McRoberts out Sunday, Udonis Haslem and Justin Hamilton drew the frontcourt starts, though Haslem played just four minutes. It's unclear if head coach Erik Spoelstra will try a different look should Bosh miss any more time.