http://nba.si.com/2013/06/19/chris-bosh-miami-heat-fans-2013-nba-finals-game-6-san-antonio-spurs/?section=si_latest

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Chris Bosh to Heat fans who left early: ‘Don’t come to Game 7′
BY BEN GOLLIVER

MIAMI — Sorry, Heat fans. Chris Bosh is unwilling to forgive your lack of faith.

In the closing minutes of regulation of Game 6 on Tuesday, a significant portion of the home crowd left American Airlines Arena early, missing the Heat’s dramatic 103-100 overtime comeback.

Bosh chastised the fans who headed for the exits during a media session on Wednesday.

“For all those guys [fans] who left, make sure they don’t come to Game 7,” he said. “We only want the guys who want to stay. … You never give up. People gave up on us. They can stay where they are and watch the game at home.”

A portion of those who left attempted to get back into the building, but were denied access by security officials, who enforced the arena’s no reentry policy.

“You can’t get let back in after you leave,” Bosh said. “I know that. Hell, I’ve been to games. You can’t leave a game and then come back. It doesn’t make any sense. You left. It’s not punishment, that’s protocol.”

Miami made up a five-point deficit in the last 28 seconds of regulation thanks to three-pointers from LeBron James and Ray Allen. Afterward, James called Game 6 “by far the best game” that he has ever been a part of during his 10-year career.

The Heat and Spurs, deadlocked at three games apiece, will play the decisive Game 7 on Thursday. The Finals has gone to seven games in only two of the previous 18 years: 2010 (Lakers and Celtics) and 2005 (Spurs and Pistons).

Bosh, an eight-time All-Star, is seeking his second title. He finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds in Game 6 and made a number of crucial defensive plays down the stretch.

During the Eastern Conference finals, Pacers radio broadcaster Mark Boyle took some shots at Heat fans who left early during Indiana’s Game 2 victory.

“We are literally sitting in the crowd here,” Boyle said, in an audio file of the broadcast posted on Miami sports site PageQSports.com. “These losers are leaving. They are flocking to the exits with their team down by three. This city does not only not deserve this team, they don’t deserve any team.”

credit: nba.si.com

What an idiot.

I saw this on the ESPN messageboards, and over there it was Miami fans that were being bashed. Posters were saying they were the worst fans of all of sports.

The reason I am posting is that every team has these type of bandwagon fans.

What is goin' on here?

They pay the money so they can do whatever they want. I don't think they're particularly great fans...i think Florida as a whole doesn't support their sports teams...but you shouldn't call out your fans like that. All that will do is make the boos louder especially if you don't win the title.

They pay the money so they can do whatever they want. I don't think they're particularly great fans...i think Florida as a whole doesn't support their sports teams...but you shouldn't call out your fans like that. All that will do is make the boos louder especially if you don't win the title.

I live in Florida myself, and I agree with you. Florida doesn't support out teams as we should.

I think one of the problems with Florida is that most people who live here came from somewhere else, with already-established loyalties to teams in other parts of the country. Personally, I grew up in NJ as a Mets fan, but over the last few years have watched the Tampa Bay Rays, and now I'm a Rays fan all the way. I still root for the Mets to do well (heck, I even root for the Yankees to to well except when they play the Rays, and I HATED the Yankees growing up). We even have a Rays minor-league affiliate team in our town, and we go to several games a year. We love it.

But in football and basketball, I still like my old teams (Steelers and Lakers), although I root for the T.B. Bucs as well. Never really liked the Dolphins. I'm rooting for the Spurs to beat the Heat (although I don't think it's gonna happen).

So yeah, I agree that Florida is not a good place for sports teams to expect fans to automatically support them, since most Floridians don't come from here.

I think that Bosh's actions were wrong in criticizing the fans. He didn't lose anything when some of them left early, they still paid for their over-priced tickets. With the Heat down 5 with 28 seconds to play, it was their choice to not watch the Spurs win it on their court.

I'm a little surprised the fans who were stuck outside didn't riot. But I'm not surprised some of them left early.

Well I hope the Spurs win, but hey, in Game 7, ya never know

I wanted Boston to win 3 years ago in Game #7 against the Lakers, but Boston played so bad throwing up so many bricks

But I agree that Chris Bosh should not call out the fans like that b/c they'll boo Miami all over the arena

Pretty dumb of Bosh to tell fans NOT to show up! Who does he think pays his salary?? Ultimately if their are no fans there's no paycheck for Mr. Bosh!!

Now I want The Spurs to win...they have heart, Heat have money but no heart!

What an idiot.you can say that again

I think Bosh turned out to be the only person who didn't show up for game 7. Good thing for him that Lebron and Wade were there. Oh, and Battier too, I guess.

I think Bosh turned out to be the only person who didn't show up for game 7. Good thing for him that Lebron and Wade were there. Oh, and Battier too, I guess.

Those Three (Bosch, Wade, and James) are overrated, overpaid egomaniacs!

And I won't be doubtful that this cover will be redone, but with LeBron holding the basketball.

Those Three (Bosch, Wade, and James) are overrated, overpaid egomaniacs!

And I won't be doubtful that this cover will be redone, but with LeBron holding the basketball.

I doubt the cover will be redone

I think that Bosh is on his way out of the Heat and is probably gonna get traded to another team

Those Three (Bosch, Wade, and James) are overrated, overpaid egomaniacs!

And I won't be doubtful that this cover will be redone, but with LeBron holding the basketball.

I have to disagree that Lebron is overrated.

I've seen every guy who has come straight out of high school and gone to the pros since Moses Malone (who went to the old ABA prior to playing in and dominating the NBA) did it in 1974.

No player who ever did that was more ready for the pros than Lebron was, except for Moses Malone. I'd probably rank Dwight Howard #3 as far as being able to make an immediate impact out of high school.

Lebron is everything he was built up to be, and then some.


Shawn Kemp was overated. Tracy McGrady was overrated (as well as becoming THE stupidest great player I have EVER seen in the NBA). Tyson Chandler was overrated (he's an OK player now, but for cryin' out loud, it took him long enough). Jermaine O'Neal was overrated.

A couple of other guys who came out after high school went on to become all time greats... Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett. But neither one of them was actually ready for the NBA out of high school.


I would probably put Amar'e Stoudemire at about the #4 rank in terms of immediate impact. The list flattens out rapidly after him.

Lebron has won 4 MVP awards in the last 5 seasons (finishing 3rd three years ago). He finished 9th in MVP voting as a rookie, 6th in his second year, 2nd in his third year, then 5th and 4th before winning four of the last five MVP awards (2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013). He's already 4th all time in MVP win shares, after Jordan, Jabbar and Bird.

Active players with the most MVP win shares:

1. LeBron James 5.387
2. Tim Duncan 4.261
3. Kobe Bryant 4.206
4. Kevin Garnett 2.753
5. Steve Nash 2.429
6. Kevin Durant 2.019
7. Dirk Nowitzki 1.804
8. Chris Paul 1.423
9. Dwight Howard 1.249
10. Derrick Rose 0.981


He's ridiculously ahead of all of the active players who are under 30, and has even passed Duncan, Garnett and Kobe, who've all been around for several more seasons than James has.

He's been first team all defensive now for five straight seasons, and deservedly so.

He has the 3rd highest career scoring average in history (recognizing that he hasn't experienced the down side of his career yet). He is 3rd in that category both in NBA history and in pro basketball history (NBA and ABA combined).


Bosh is certainly overrated, although he is capable of occasionally coming up with a big game. Wade might be very slightly over rated, as he's coming down with some injury problems with increasing frequency.

But Lebron over-rated? No way.

Maybe he didn't want to remain a Cav for the rest of his career... but who would? Cleveland has a culture of losing... that goes for all of their teams, year in and year out. If I were an NBA player (at any point in history), the Cavs would be way down the list of teams that I'd want to play for if I had my choice, for that reason alone... even though there have been some excellent players who have played there.

Yeah, I thought "the announcement" show was stupid, but that's pop culture today, that's sports today, and that's ESPN today. I was glad to hear that whatever money that was made from that show went to charity (at least that's what I heard), but it was still stupid. It's not any more stupid than Barack Obama trying to impress us with his basketball "knowledge" every freakin' year by picking the NCAA tournament.

I don't know what the Heat are going to do with Bosh. I would think his stock is down at this point, but they could still try to deal him for whatever they can get. But yeah, he's overrated. Lebron is not.

I can see Bosh point a little because if the game was out of reach and it was the last home game of the season, you would think everyone would stick around to congratulate the Heat on a great season.

The only time u leave like that is if it's a regular season game

If Bosh wanted to make the point that he was upset about a few fans leaving early (I think it was phony outrage to begin with), the classy way to handle it would be to say something like "it's too bad that not everyone who paid to get in saw the end of this game, they missed one of the all time great comebacks. But it's not too late if our fans want to show up and supports us in Game 7" or something like that.

Telling fans not to show up for game 7 is just childish.

In 88, with the Lakers down 3 games to 2 to the Pistons, the Lakers trailed by 3 pts with a minute to go in game 6. Then Byron Scott hit a short jumper and, after a defensive stop, Kareem was fouled with about 13 seconds left and sank both free throws for a one point win, forcing a seventh game.

You didn't hear Magic, Worthy, Kareem, Byron Scott, Michael Cooper or any of those guys say "well if any of you fans left early in this game, don't bother showing up for game 7".

I used that as an example because that was also a game in which a team was less than a minute away from being eliminated in game 6 of the finals on their home court.

The fans had a perfect right to leave whenever they wanted. Since when are ballplayers allowed to dictate to paying customers when they can and can't leave a game?

Bosh is just a jerk. And again, I think his so-called outrage was phony anyway.

Compare to some of the other stuff in the sports media this week, this is so mild in comparison.

If Bosh wanted to make the point that he was upset about a few fans leaving early (I think it was phony outrage to begin with), the classy way to handle it would be to say something like "it's too bad that not everyone who paid to get in saw the end of this game, they missed one of the all time great comebacks. But it's not too late if our fans want to show up and supports us in Game 7" or something like that.

Telling fans not to show up for game 7 is just childish.

In 88, with the Lakers down 3 games to 2 to the Pistons, the Lakers trailed by 3 pts with a minute to go in game 6. Then Byron Scott hit a short jumper and, after a defensive stop, Kareem was fouled with about 13 seconds left and sank both free throws for a one point win, forcing a seventh game.

You didn't hear Magic, Worthy, Kareem, Byron Scott, Michael Cooper or any of those guys say "well if any of you fans left early in this game, don't bother showing up for game 7".

I used that as an example because that was also a game in which a team was less than a minute away from being eliminated in game 6 of the finals on their home court.

The fans had a perfect right to leave whenever they wanted. Since when are ballplayers allowed to dictate to paying customers when they can and can't leave a game?

Bosh is just a jerk. And again, I think his so-called outrage was phony anyway.



Not a good example because the Pistons didn't have the game won like the spurs. Being up 3 with a minute left is a lot different from being up 5 with 27 secs left

Not a good example because the Pistons didn't have the game won like the spurs. Being up 3 with a minute left is a lot different from being up 5 with 27 secs left

If you're gonna get nit picky about it, fine. But that's the closest any team has come to winning a title on the other team's home floor with a minute to go in a game 6 in a 2-3-2-formatted final.

So it's the best example in NBA history.

The Spurs didn't have the game won. If they did they wouldn't have lost it.

If you're gonna get nit picky about it, fine. But that's the closest any team has come to winning a title on the other team's home floor with a minute to go in a game 6 in a 2-3-2-formatted final.

So it's the best example in NBA history.

The Spurs didn't have the game won. If they did they wouldn't have lost it.


They did have the game won it's just that POOR COACHING lost the game for them


Any coach whose team is up 5 with 27 seconds left should be telling him team one thing

"WHATEVER YOU DO DON"T GIVE UP A THREE POINTER"

Not a good example because the Pistons didn't have the game won like the spurs. Being up 3 with a minute left is a lot different from being up 5 with 27 secs left


But a huge big difference between Heat fans this year and fans back then was that back then everyone didn't have so-called smart phones. If you left the arena early you'd have to wait until the next Sportscenter broadcast to find out what you missed.

But a huge big difference between Heat fans this year and fans back then was that back then everyone didn't have so-called smart phones. If you left the arena early you'd have to wait until the next Sportscenter broadcast to find out what you missed.


I think only those with cars would have found out when they turned on the radio lol

I think only those with cars would have found out when they turned on the radio lol

:lol: True!

Actually, one of the reasons Laker crowds were relatively quiet in those days is because a lot of them brought their radios to the games. Chick Hearn, the long-time Lakers announcer, invented the simulcast, in which he would do the play by play for both radio and TV. Fans didn't want to miss his broadcasts just because they happened to be at the game.

The only person that I like on the Miami Heat is D-Wade b/c to me, he's the Franchise of the Team

I do like Norris Cole as well, the rest I can do without