Bosh has taken the same attitude with the regards to the Heat, which had to endure the stunning and franchise-altering departure of LeBron James last summer. James’s return to Cleveland has been romanticized and glorified almost everywhere – old fans in Ohio have learned to love again, those disgusted by “The Decision” are rooting for the prodigal son to flourish – but the team he most recently left behind now has to regroup and realize the past four years of high win totals, high scrutiny and high praise are over.

“Nobody is going to be kissing our [butt] now,” Bosh said, matter-of-factly, in a telephone interview.

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The Heat has no interest in bemoaning life without James, especially since life with him helped produce two championships and four NBA Finals finals trips. And, as Bosh recognizes, he still gets to wake up most days in Miami. But after years proving three all-star players in their primes could put aside their egos to win, Bosh, Dwyane Wade and what remains is out to show the Heat didn’t degenerate into some one-man show.

“It drives us a lot, because I understand that yeah, factor in his talent and what he brought, of course he makes anybody an instant championship contending team. He gives you title hopes, but just because he’s not here doesn’t mean that has to vanish with him,” Bosh said. “I want us to be able to exceed everyone else’s expectations and compete for the top spot.”

After James announced his intention to leave, Heat president Pat Riley scrambled to keep most of his team intact and replaced the four-time most valuable player with former all-star forward Luol Deng. But that plan wouldn’t have worked without retaining Bosh, who became the centerpiece of their maintenance efforts after accepting a five-year, $118 million contract to stay in Miami.

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The day before the free agent negotiating period began, Bosh opted out of the remaining two years and $43 million on his contract fully expecting he would have to take a pay cut for Miami to surround him, James and Wade with more talent. Bosh had no inclination James would leave and found out like everybody else.

“I thought we were going to stay together. That was the plan. For us to keep it going,” Bosh said. “Obviously that didn’t happen. LeBron made his choice. That was the best decision for him. It still ended up working out for everybody. I can’t be mad at it. It went well.”

Bosh then chuckled to himself. He didn’t have to state the obvious – before Riley stepped up with a big salary increase, the best offer Bosh could get was a four-year, $88 million maximum deal from the Houston Rockets. Though Bosh seriously pondered forming another all-star trio with Dwight Howard and James Harden in his home state, the Dallas native wasn’t prepared to leave Miami, where his family had settled and become comfortable.

With more money comes more responsibility for Bosh. Before joining the Heat, Bosh had averaged at least 22 points and 8.5 rebounds in five consecutive seasons for the Toronto Raptors. Bosh will again become a focal point in Miami but he has learned that winning requires more than putting up gaudy statistics; his role now will require making his teammates better.

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“It’s a challenge for myself and it’s huge for me because I want to see if I still have what it takes,” Bosh, 30, said of his new role.

Bosh had to subjugate his game the most for the Heat’s grand experiment to work. That meant taking fewer shots – “It was a little scarce out there,” he said – expanding his offensive repertoire from the low block to beyond the three-point line and even changing his position from towering power forward to undersized center. Team success made the decline in production palpable but it also subjected Bosh to unfair criticism and scapegoat status whenever the Heat came up short. After hitting the game-winning three-pointer in Miami’s lone win in the NBA Finals last June, Bosh joked that he was the second-easiest target in sports behind James.

“I’m just happy that I had good teammates over the past four years to keep my head straight, to keep me focused on what I need to focus on, because that’s how guys just go rogue and looking out for themselves,” Bosh said. “People just paid attention to numbers. They want to rank you. They say you can’t do this, you can’t do that. And hey, I think I’m one of the best players in the league, no matter what. They just needed me to do this right now. That doesn’t mean I’m going to be on a bunch of front pages. That’s why they call it sacrifice. It’s not easy.”

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To Bosh, the Heat had a chance to be more but has now been reduced to a moment in time. He became closer with his friend, teammate and neighbor, Wade, over the past four years but the bond strengthened after James bolted. The two were on the phone immediately afterward, discussing what needed to be done to ensure one man’s exit doesn’t mean one team’s plummet.

“We had to kind of get over that shock a little bit,” Bosh said. “We’ll always have that ‘We could’ve’ thing. That makes it a lot more interesting in the future. It was very, very, very special. We made a lot of history. I think as we get further removed from it, it’ll put into perspective how special it was, what we were able to do. In hindsight, I think it will be even more awesome. I’m already looking at all of the championship photos. It’s crazy.”

With less sizzle, the Heat has to make the game simple, make the extra pass and make those passes quicker. Miami no longer has the luxury of getting the ball to James and getting out of the way, of letting him defend the other team’s best player, of letting him single-handedly make up for any deficiencies with his versatility and smarts.

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