Monday, (LeBron) James spoke not only of (Shane) Battier’s fine work guarding the bulkier David West of Indiana, but of his taking “one of the bigs out of the paint,” which opened the floor for James and (Dwyane) Wade, “and gave us the space that we so needed.

“And it gives us also an unbelievable defensive lineup,” James said.

Now the Heat will get a chance to defend a championship, so it has no need to defend its odd way of play, nor to reach for lesser lights who might better fit someone else’s positional definition. As Wade noted, in an era missing a Shaquille O’Neal or Hakeem Olajuwon, the Heat still wasn’t often the bigger team and yet “our game was successful for us.”

Battier appeared comfortable as a “stretch four,” which is what Oklahoma City envisioned when pursuing him as a free agent.

(Chris) Bosh even seems to have embraced the center switch: “It’s kind of cool because I can say, ‘I’m the starting center for the NBA champions.’ You’d look at me and you wouldn’t think that.”

James?

“I don’t know, as the years go on, I don’t see a 31- or 32-year-old LeBron playing the power forward,” James, 27, said with a grin. “But we’ll see. Whatever it takes, man. As long as I stay healthy, that’s all that matters. As long as I stay healthy, I can play any position.”

via Ethan J. Skolnick of The Palm Beach Post