Barack Obama was happy to see the Los Angeles Lakers win their 17th NBA championship. On Sunday night, the Lakers took down the Miami heat 106-93 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, and it’s their first title since 2010. Obama went to Twitter to congratulate the Lakers and the Seattle Storm who won the WNBA Championship last week.
“Congrats to the [Lakers] and [Seattle Storm] on their championship wins!” Obama wrote in the tweet. “Proud of all the NBA and WNBA teams and players who’ve been using their platforms to take a stand for racial justice and encourage civic participation this season.” The Lakers were the favorites to win the title coming into the playoffs because of the duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Both players were named to the All-NBA First Team when the regular season came to an end and led the Lakers to a dominating performance in the playoffs. Both players will be back with the Lakers next year, making the favorites to win it all again.
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“I think we came out of the gate so strong, October, November, whenever this year began,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said after the game on Sunday night when talking about when he knew the team could make a run at the title. “Obviously on paper, we felt like we had a team that we felt could compete for the championship. We came out of the gate strong and lost the first game, and I think went 17-1 after that and started thinking about we could do something special. I think the weekend where we beat Milwaukee and the Clippers was huge for our internal confidence, that we could and were going to reach our goal. I would say probably those two moments, the way we came out of the gate, and that weekend before the hiatus hit.”
James was named NBA Finals MVP for the fourth time in his career and has won championships with three different teams – one with the Lakers, one with the Cleveland Cavaliers and two with the Miami Heat. Right after the game, James said: “We just want our respect. Rob [Pelinka] wants his respect. Coach [Frank] Vogel wants his respect. Our organization wants their respect. Laker Nation wants their respect. And I want my damn respect, too.”
