THE PRESIDENT: Hello! (Applause.) Everybody, please have a seat. Have a seat. Welcome to the White House. Actually, for these guys, it is welcome back to the White House -- (applause) -- after being back-to-back world champions, the Miami Heat.
Now, one of the cool things about this job is welcoming championship sports teams from across the sporting world to the White House. And usually people enjoy coming to the White House. I have to say, I’ve never seen folks more excited than the Heat when they came last year. (Laughter.) I mean, LeBron was so pumped up I thought he was going to give me a hug and knock me over like the guy in the SportsCenter who hit the half-court shot. But it was wonderful to see them then. It wonderful to see them back.
We’ve got some outstanding members of Congress who are big fans of the Heat. They’re from both parties -- because we all know nothing brings people together like the Miami Heat. (Laughter and applause.) Across the NBA there’s just a unifying -- (laughter) -- sense about the Heat.
I want to congratulate Coach Spoelstra for the outstanding work that he does; legendary team president, Pat Riley, for his outstanding leadership; and all the coaches and players, members of the staff and crew to make a championship season. This group has won twice now, but it’s gone to the finals three times. And sometimes it feels like they’re still fighting for a little respect. I can relate to that. (Laughter.)
Last season, the Heat put together one of the most dominating regular seasons ever by a defending champion. They won a team-record 66 games. At one point, they won 27 games straight -- the second-longest winning streak ever, extraordinarily impressive -- almost as impressive as the Bulls’ 72-win season. (Laughter.) Riley and I were reminiscing about those Knicks years. (Laughter.)
But as these guys know, winning a title is never easy. In the playoffs, the Pacers put them through seven bruising games. In the finals, the Spurs showed us all that they’ve got an awful lot of life left in them, and one of the greatest players of all time, and one of the greatest coaches of all time. In fact, San Antonio had the series all but wrapped up in game six. As you will recall, Miami was down five points, less than 30 seconds to go. The last 122 times that happened in the playoffs, the team that was down lost 122 times.
But as these guys know, winning a title is never easy. In the playoffs, the Pacers put them through seven bruising games. In the finals, the Spurs showed us all that they’ve got an awful lot of life left in them, and one of the greatest players of all time, and one of the greatest coaches of all time. In fact, San Antonio had the series all but wrapped up in game six. As you will recall, Miami was down five points, less than 30 seconds to go. The last 122 times that happened in the playoffs, the team that was down lost 122 times.
And then they brought out the ropes. And then Ray Allen saw them bring out the ropes. (Laughter.) And with five seconds left, Chris Bosh gets an incredible offensive rebound, passes it out to Ray; Ray is backing up, he’s got to jump forward; hits one of the most iconic shots of all time. And then he added a few choice words about the ropes, which we cannot -- (laughter) -- which we cannot repeat here. But, Ray, I do want you to know that when you say those things on the court, like, people can read your lips, right? (Laughter.) You do understand that?
RAY ALLEN: Yeah.
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