On Wednesday night, the Celtics have a meeting scheduled with Blake Griffin and the visiting Los Angeles Clippers at the TD Garden. But 24 hours prior, the C's invited a far more memorable guest to Boston — President Barack Obama.
The commander in chief was in town only briefly, visiting the Museum of Fine Arts for a fundraiser on Tuesday night. But he carved out a few minutes of his evening to meet with a few Celtics — Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and coach Doc Rivers were among the C's representatives in attendance.
"I was amused that he knew who I was," Allen said. "I figured he had bigger fish to fry, but he's following what we do. You forget, really, how we perform on a daily basis. Being in the NBA, playing in big games, being on TV every day, being seen all around the world, you forget that.
"He's probably sitting up late nights, watching TV, can't go to sleep, and he puts on NBA TV, and he's sitting there cursing the screen out just like every other normal person."
Allen has now met three sitting U.S. presidents — Obama, George W. Bush, who met the C's after their championship run in 2008, and Bill Clinton, who happened to bump into Allen's Milwaukee Bucks on a White House tour many years ago.
The experience doesn't get old. Allen said it helped him to think about his place in society as an NBA player.
"It helps perspective a little bit, with how people view us," he said. "People watch us all the time, they follow everything we say, follow everything we do. That's pretty much the president for everybody around the world.
"TV has a way of making you look bigger than you really are. I was talking about my encounter with him, and everybody was like, 'That's how people look at you.' I had never really thought of it like that. It does help perspective."
Rivers had already met the president before, as the two share Chicago roots and are already acquaintances. But he recalled that when catching up with Obama on Tuesday night, he did have one particularly memorable exchange.
"He asked me if I needed anything," Rivers said. "When a president asks you that, you could say a lot of things. But I just told him I'd like to secure a date to see him again. That would be nice."
Rivers is hoping for an appointment shortly after this June.
