For Bosh, Trip Home Reflects a Road Back

Not everybody in Dallas rejoiced when Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki spun past the Miami Heat’s Chris Bosh for the winning layup Thursday night in the waning seconds of Game 2 of the N.B.A. finals.

In high school, Bosh was a star who helped lead Lincoln of Dallas to the 2002 Class 4A championship.

It was a rare lapse for Bosh, whose play in this postseason, especially on defense, has been stellar. Entering that game, he was averaging 18.6 points and 8.9 rebounds in the postseason and giving lie to the widely held belief that the Heat triumvirate of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Bosh is two and a half megastars.

“Just watching him grow up as a player in this playoff series has been awesome,” Wade said of Bosh after the Heat’s Game 1 victory.

For those who remember Bosh as the best player on one of the greatest high school basketball teams in Texas history, Nowitzki’s final drive to the basket was hard to watch. Leonard Bishop, who coached Bosh at Lincoln High School in Dallas, immediately harked back to the last time Bosh stumbled on a big stage, at the 2001 Class 4A state championships, when he fouled out in a 2-point semifinal loss to San Antonio Lanier. He came back the next year to lead the Tigers to an undefeated season and the 2002 Class 4A state championship. That team was also the first from Texas to finish a season ranked No. 1 by USA Today.

“Chris always set high standards, and he was a perfectionist,” Bishop said in a telephone interview. “He never stopped working to get better.”

Bosh’s defensive lapse in the final seconds of Game 2 will provide ammunition for those who have questioned his mental toughness. How will he rebound from that? He gave hints earlier last week in response to a question about his detractors.

“We’re all human, and things bother you,” he said, “but I’m the type of person where I believe you give certain things power. If you’re really paying attention to something that somebody said or the way things are going, you’re giving that situation or that person power by being upset. If something’s said or something doesn’t happen the way it’s supposed to go, that’s fine. I just keep working.”