TORONTO (AP) --  After being called out as a quitter by his former
general manager, Chris Bosh says he "put his heart and soul"
into the Toronto Raptors organization and never gave up on his
team.

In an interview on Rogers Sportsnet on Thursday night, Bosh
responded to allegations made by Raptors general manager Bryan
Colangelo on Toronto radio station FAN 590 that claimed the
All-Star was "checked out" late last season and chose not to
play some of the Raptors' final games.

"I play this game as hard as I can every time I step on the
court," Bosh said. "On the back of my jersey it says 'Bosh' ...
The Boshes are hard workers. We have a lot of pride in what we
do, in our jobs and in life."

The Raptors fell from a playoff position at the All-Star break
into ninth place in the Eastern Conference at the end of the
season. Bosh and former Cleveland star LeBron James then joined
Dwyane Wade in Miami as free agents this summer.

That ruffled feathers in Toronto and Cleveland, with Colangelo
suggesting that the decision for the three stars to play
together had been "brewing for a while." He suggested the
threesome started firming up their plans while representing the
East at the NBA All-Star game.

Bosh claims he was still intent on getting the Raptors into the
postseason.

"What's so significant about the All-Star break? We were in the
playoffs. And I wanted to play in the playoffs," he said.
"That's all I thought about every summer."

Bosh also clarified comments he made recently in the Miami
Herald in which he called Toronto "different." He said he didn't
mean that as an insult to the city.

"Toronto is different," he said. "For one, it's a different
country. If you don't know you're in a different country when
you land then something is wrong with your senses. That's not to
say that Toronto is not a great metropolitan city. It is a
fantastic city.

"Different is not bad. I'm different. That doesn't make me bad."

Bosh also claimed his decision to leave Toronto was at the end
of a long process and not something he had committed to before
the offseason.

"Everybody thinks, 'Oh, he was gone as soon as the season was
over.' It was the hardest decision I ever had to make. As
different as another country is, it was still home for me. I had
been there for seven years."