Miami's path to the postseason has become infinitely more perilous with the news of Chris Bosh's health woes.
But don't count out them out just yet.
The Miami Heat officially announced Saturday that Bosh will miss the remainder of the season while receiving treatment for a non-life-threatening blood clot in his lungs.
Until this point, Bosh has served as the backbone of the Heat's injury-riddled campaign. Amid nagging hamstring pulls for Dwyane Wade and a season-ending injury to Josh McRoberts, Bosh held down the fort for Miami with his steady two-way play.
Bosh led the team in points (21.1) while anchoring the Heat's defense before the sublime emergence of Hassan Whiteside.
Losing Bosh cuts deeper than the subtraction of his boxscore averages: he's integral to the Heat's identity and their style of play. His versatility and skillset allowed the Heat to function as a slow-it-down, halfcourt offense despite abysmal point guard play and a lifeless bench.
But all is not lost for Miami.
It sounds like a cliche, but head coach Erik Spoelstra has proven time and time again that he can work magic with a cadre of veterans. Spoelstra has never failed to lead his team into the playoffs - not even in 2008-09, when the Heat were nothing more than Wade and a collection of marginal role players.
Wade is far from the player he was in his prime, but the Heat still boast an impressive top four of Wade, Whiteside, Luol Deng and newcomer Goran Dragic. Flexibility in their roster construction gives Spoelstra plenty of pieces to play with.
The toughest aspect of Bosh's game to replace will be his versatility on both ends of the floor. Bosh is an excellent instinctual defender and a floor-stretcher on offense. No one player can replicate that.
The Heat have tried to get by with veteran forward Udonis Haslem at the four, but the need for spacing has been so dire that Haslem's launched three 3-point attempts in his last two games - on the heels of failing to attempt a single trey in his previous seven games. This late into his career, it's unlikely that defenses will respect Haslem's shot, even if he does run into the odd trey.
But the Heat can at least replicate Bosh's shooting by playing more small ball. They could presumably slide Deng to the four. That will hurt Miami on the boards, but Whiteside's been a beast on the glass and Miami's wings are solid rebounders.
Playing small would allow Miami to spread the floor while Whiteside and Dragic make a formidable pairing in the high pick-and-roll. Playing Deng as a big also preserves the ability to blitz screen actions with strong ball pressure, a strategy Spoelstra favors.
Ultimately, Bosh's absence is a huge blow to Miami's playoff hopes. But with a crafty schemer in Spoelstra and four above-average starters, the Heat's postseason hopes are not lost.
