Before he leave the White House, Obama saluted the Cavaliers, the 2015-2016 NBA Champion.
US President Barack Obama honored the team of Lebron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers who was declared champion of the National Basketball Association recently.
Obama honored the Cavaliers on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday, Manila time.
Obama saluted the Cavaliers for rallying from behind to defeat the Golden State Warriors and end a Cleveland NBA title drought stretching back to 1964.
To recall, the Lebron’s team came back from a 3-1 deficit to win the championship against a Warriors team that set an NBA record for wins during the regular season.
During his speech, Obama opened with: “That’s right. I said world champion and Cleveland in the same sentence.”
“The first team in history to dig themselves out of a hole like that,” Obama said. “The comeback was remarkable, and you learn about people when they’re down.”
Obama gave praise to several players of the team, but he particularly focused on Lebron James, who won the Most Valuable Player award during the championship series.
The outgoing president called James as one of the greatest players of all time and said it’s not just power and speed that make James great, but his unselfishness and work ethic.
“You saw it in those last three games,” the president said.
Obama said the Cavs also exemplified a growing generation of athletes who are using their platforms to speak out. He cited as examples that Kevin Love has worked to combat sexual assault and James has worked to reduce gun violence.
The team, according to the US President, met earlier Thursday with Attorney General Loretta Lynch and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett to discuss about the steps that the Cavs are taking to help build better relations between law enforcement and the Cleveland community.
“It is part of a league-wide effort to build stronger communities all across the country, including holding open conversations so we can begin to bridge divides,” Obama said.
Before meeting with the Cavaliers, Obama met with the president-elect Donald Trump, who won the White House race against Hillary Clinton.
