Chris Bosh is surprised that fans of his former team, the Toronto Raptors, boo him. At the same time, the Miami Heat forward told the Sun-Sentinel that the chorus of shots the Toronto fans gave him in a visit on Sunday helped his game.
"Yeah, I'm a little surprised," Bosh said. "They (fans) pay their money. They can do what they want. I hope they just remember the good times."
"I was hearing a lot from the fans," Bosh said. "I thank them for continuing to stay on me and calling me names. That helped my focus a lot. I was like, `I need to get in this game to shut them up."'
Bosh scored 22 of his 28 points in the second half as the Heat rolled to a 100-85 victory on Sunday, and he shot an aggressive 12-of-19 from the floor as Miami's leading shot-maker.
Bosh was originally picked fourth overall by the Raptors in the 2003 NBA Draft and went on to star for Toronto for seven years. He failed to average less than 22 points in each of his final five seasons with the Raptors.
Part of the three-headed attack of the Heat, Bosh joined Dwyane Wade and LeBron James in Miami after the 2009-10 season. Since Bosh left, the Raptors have struggled. They have gone 17-31 for a 35.4 percent winning percentage this season, and that is higher than winning percentages of 34.8 last season and 26.8 in Toronto's first year without Bosh.