Celtics talking hoops with President Obama

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There was something on the mind of one major Chicago Bulls fans, and he got the chance to ask the Celtics about their former assistant coach Tom Thibodeau, who is now coaching the Bulls.

“He actually thanked us, for giving them our guy,’ said the Celtics’ Ray Allen. ‘ ‘How did you guys let that guy go?’ ‘

In this case, the fan in question was President Obama. Allen and several other Celtics, including Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, as well as Coach Doc Rivers, were invited to meet Obama at a fundraiser at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on Tuesday night.

Said Rivers: ‘He thanked us for Tibs. He talked a lot about the Bulls, I will say that....He asked me if I needed anything. When a president asks you that, you could say a lot of things. I just told him I’d like to secure a date to see him again. That’d be nice.’

There was, according to Allen, an amusing exchange when Obama put Garnett on the spot. Allen was chatting with reporters shortly before the Clippers-Celtics game here on Wednesday night.

‘You’ve got to ask Kevin,’ Allen said. ‘He [Obama] kind of jabbed Kevin about throwing out elbows at his guys, being the Chicago Bulls. Kevin had to answer that question from the President of the United States.’

So what did Garnett say to the president?

‘You have to ask him what he said,’ Allen said. ‘Yep, he [Obama] is watching Kevin.’

-- Lisa Dillman in Boston