NBA Finals 2012: Bosh will not start Miami Heat's NBA Finals Game 1 against ... - SportingNews.com

OKLAHOMA CITY â€" Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has kept his thought process much to himself when it comes to power forward Chris Bosh heading into Game 1 of the NBA Finals here in Oklahoma City.

Bosh missed nine postseason games with an abdominal injury going back to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, returning in Game 5 of the conference finals against Boston. After playing limited minutes in his first game back, Spoelstra upped Bosh’s minutes off the bench in the next two games, and he responded with 19 points and eight rebounds in the Heat’s Game 7 win.

Chris Bosh will not start in the Miami Heat's NBA Finals Game 1 contest against the Oklahoma City Thunder. (AP Photo)

That, though, was not enough to get Bosh back into the starting lineup in this series. When Spoelstra handed in his lineup card to NBA officials just before game time, his starters at forward were LeBron James and Shane Battier, with Udonis Haslem at center and the guard pairing of Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers.

“I considered everything, gave it a great deal of thought, and talked to everybody,” Spoelstra said. “We’re not holding any secrets right now. It’s just about our guys focusing on the game plan. The eight guys that are going to play will not be a surprise.”

The other three guys are headlined by Bosh, with Mike Miller and Joel Anthony the likely candidates for the rest of the reserve minutes. In Game 7 against Boston, however, no other reserve besides Bosh played more than four minutes. Spoelstra did add that, though Bosh is not starting, he will have no cap on his minutes.

Asked whether there is any advantage to withholding his starting lineup until right before game time, Spoelstra gave an interesting answerâ€"basically, he said, he didn’t want the media chattering about the decision. “I’d be willing to tell Oklahoma City,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a competitive advantage. I just, one of the few times that hopefully we can control a little bit of the noise out there, we don’t have to get into the debate about the pluses and minuses before the game. The guys can just focus in, get into their iPads and focus on the game.”