MIAMI
-- Lost in the phenomenal play of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade during Miami's torrent streak of 19 wins in the past 20 games is a player who on closer inspection underscores in deeper ways the Heat's shift from frauds to frontrunners: Chris Bosh.
While Wade and LeBron, December's Eastern Conference co-players for the month, are the catalysts behind Miami's climb, it is Bosh who serves as the better metaphor for the change.
The smallest icon in the Big Three, Bosh began the season with the same off-balanced, out-of-rhythm play of his team.
Offensively, he (and they) seemed uncertain and lacking confidence, a celebrated and scrutinized athlete suddenly without the powers expected of him.
Defensively -- and often playing at the five position -- he (like his team) was tentative, weak and consistently overmatched by less than impressive competition.
Bosh's scoring fell from his Toronto days, not just because of sharing the stage but because he no longer knew how to perform on it.
His rebounding, a much-needed component from a supposed star player on a team with a frontcourt that was really struggling, was anemic.
Even the social side of his life was askew.
He simply didn't fit in, not in the way that had been expected of him. He was not the player he'd been expected to be.
Just like his team.
"Oh yeah," he said at the time after being asked if things were hard for him. "Yes. I mean, I think I'm the easiest one to attack. I've heard all kinds of jokes."
It was the same way with the Heat. As the Basketball Jones website parodied Bosh with searing accuracy in their Like-A-Bosh video (including the prediction he, like the stapler, would eventually work out), the team struggled, starting the season 9-8.
Drama ensued. Bumps, complaints, leaked stories, hurt feelings and gleeful opponents enjoying the early tribulations of the Heat under the Big Three.
When the turn came, starting with a players-only meeting at Dallas and followed by a coming together to support LeBron during his Cleveland return, the spotlight found the Heat suddenly winning.
With LeBron unstoppable.
And Wade unbeatable.
And the Heat what they were supposed to be: a championship-caliber team.
Bosh's improvement, while not totally unnoticed, was quieter. He began pulling down more rebounds. Hitting more shots. He was now bringing a confidence, on and off the court, to work.
He was impactful, great sometimes, even if LeBron and Wade's even-stronger play overshadowed it.
Like the Heat, Bosh found an inner toughness Miami needed, particularly after Udonis Haslem was injured. Like the Heat, he began to battle more often for rebounds. Like the Heat, his intensity level jumped and his silly comments ("we want to chill") were replaced by a competitive assuredness not seen in him or his team during much of November.
November Bosh had two double-doubles.
December Bosh had seven.
During Tuesday night's win over Milwaukee, Bosh had perhaps the quietest excellent first half of the year: He scored 12 points with eight rebounds on the way to a 19-point, 12-rebound night.
While Wade and LeBron stole the show and the fourth quarter (combined, they scored 58 percent of the Heat's 101 points), Bosh showed glimpses of how the Heat have evolved from the floundering November team the NBA so enjoyed to see to the December squad no one wants to face.
On one play in the third quarter, Bosh simply attacked the rim. He dribbled, took two steps, elevated and forcefully threw down a dunk. That was new Bosh.
November Bosh would have been the guy stepping out of the way of such a drive, not conducting it.
Later, on a rebound -- on a play whistled to a stop, something that will never hit a stat sheet -- Bosh elevated, grabbed the ball with one hand and attempted a thunderous, angry-looking dunk.
The ball slammed off the rim. Bosh realized the play had been dead and moved on. But in that effort, in its unregistered ferocity, was the new Bosh and the new Heat: focused, confident, aggressive, tough.
This was not the "Like-a-Bosh." This was a part of the Big Three, this time with no sneers.
There's a long season to go and Bosh will need to play a key role in it if the Heat are to live up to the expectations made the day LeBron said he was taking his talents to South Beach.
While LeBron's own play, and that of Wade, have been instrumental in turning things around, it's Erik Spoelstra's much ballyhooed process -- and the aggressiveness and defense and rebounding weaved into it -- on which rest the foundation needed to support those two stars' championship hopes.
And it's Bosh, in his transformation from poser to warrior, who best exemplifies just how far this team has come.
You can follow Bill Reiter on Twitter.
