Incumbent US President Barack Obama honoured the 2016 NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers at the White House yesterday, ahead of their clash with the Washington Wizards on Friday night in the nation’s capital.
2016 NBA Finals MVP LeBron James and his teammates took a tour of the White House and performed the ‘Mannequin Challenge’, the new internet craze, with First Lady Michelle Obama before meeting the US President.
Barack Obama welcomed the 2016 NBA Champions for a 10-minute meeting during which the President congratulated the Cavaliers on their ‘remarkable' comeback in June's NBA Finals, becoming the first team in NBA history to come back from a 3-1 deficit against the 'historically good' Golden State Warriors.
In a speech peppered with jokes, President Obama poked fun at Richard Jefferson and Dahntay Jones for their old age, Iman Shumpert for his hairstyle and Kevin Love for his defence on 2016 NBA MVP Stephen Curry in Game 7 of the Finals, saying “I mean, Kevin was moving. I had never seen defence like that!”. Finally, Obama gave a special thanks to “J.R. Smith's shirt for showing up", after guard J.R. Smith went on a shirtless celebration tour following the Cavaliers’ triumph.
Obama, a lifelong Chicago Bulls fan, also thanked the team for “knocking off the Warriors” as their defeat “cemented the 1996 Bulls as the greatest team of all time, so your President thanks you for that.”
President Obama went on praising the Cavaliers, saying “In Game 7, the Cavaliers fought back and locked up the title with an unbelievable two minutes. There was the block, THAT LeBron [James] said was the defining play of his career; the shot by Kyrie [Irving] putting the Cavs up five and the stop by Kevin Love. But it wasn’t just these key players, this was a team effort.”
Commenting on last year’s Finals MVP LeBron James, Obama said: “When you see LeBron James it is not just his power and his speed. It is also his unselfishness, his work ethic, his insistence in always making the right play, his determination. All of which makes him one of the greatest player of all time.” In a final praise to the 2016 NBA Champions, Obama then added, “But LeBron wouldn’t be LeBron without his teammates. Kyrie [Irving], Kevin [Love], Tristan {Thompson]…”
Kevin Love presented President Obama with a personalised Cavaliers jersey, which turned out to be the perfect opportunity to conclude the joyful meeting with a final joke. Before accepting the gift and posing for a picture with the team, Obama looked at LeBron James and said, "These sleeves get tight. Can I tear these out? Can I rip them?", referring to when James ripped the sleeves off his jersey during a game against the New York Knicks last year.
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