The central figures in the Heat's NBA Championship run are in day two of their run on the talk-show circuit, as LEBRON JAMES, DWYANE WADE and CHRIS BOSH all appeared on ABC's "The View" this morning. Co-host BARBARA WALTERS said, “We’ve never had this much testosterone on the show.” Looking at the Larry O'Brien trophy, James said, “This right here is the reason why we all came together in the first place two summers ago. We knew it was going to be tough, not quite this tough.” Walters asked, “Are you really this close? Tell us the truth, no one’s listening.” Wade: “We’re brothers. Each of us is different and away from the game, each of us like to do different things. But we always come back together. On the court, we’re as close as it gets.” Co-host JOY BEHAR asked the players if it bothers them "when people, outside of South Florida, let’s say, really can’t stand you and they hate you because you’re good, I guess?” Bosh: “You have to get really numb to it because when we first got together, I think it shocked us all how different it was and really everybody was coming out.” Behar noted, “Just pure jealously.” Bosh: “It’s a part of the game.” James said of winning the title, “It was like a relief. It was like a weight off our backs. It was definitely a weight off my back personally” ("The View," ABC, 6/27).
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James kissed the Larry O'Brien championship
trophy last night on "Late Show" |
THE VIEW FROM THE TOP: James last night appeared on CBS' "Late Show," where he received a standing ovation from the studio audience. Host
DAVID LETTERMAN said, “I haven't had a standing ovation in my life. Well, now that you got this out of your system, you ready to go back to Cleveland and play some ball?” James replied, “Right now, I'm going to play no ball.” Letterman said of James' decision to leave the Cavaliers and join the Heat, “I was furious at you. I just thought … you don't care, do you?” Letterman: “I just thought the opportunity was there, ‘By God, I'm going to stick it out in Cleveland and lift that city.’” James: “I heard all that too from you, and I thought we were friends.” Letterman responded, “We are friends!” James noted last night marked his fifth appearance on the show, and Letterman said, “You must have got tired of punks like me wising off. ... Here's another Cleveland question,” eliciting a laugh from James and the audience. Letterman asked, “There's no way to know this, but what would it have felt like if you were still in Cleveland and had won the championship there?” James: “I think the feeling that I had on Thursday, I could have been on Mars and won that championship. It felt amazing. It was better than what I expected.” Letterman handed the Larry O’Brien Trophy to James, who embraced the trophy and kissed it. Letterman said, “You kids get a room” (
“Late Show,” CBS, 6/26).
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Wade (l) helps Fallon practice his intellectual
pose during last night's show |
TAKING OFF THE GLASSES: Wade appeared on NBC’s “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” last night and host
JIMMY FALLON asked, “Is the adrenaline wearing off yet?” Wade: “Well, I'm tired.” Fallon said, “You've been partying since you've won.” Fallon said Wade “brought us some of your trademark glasses here.” Wade put on a pair and said, “These are intellectual right here.” When asked how James has changed since winning his first NBA Championship, Wade said, “He stopped talking about that. But man, I thought he did an unbelievable job this year really coming in and just taking everything that he did wrong and saying, ‘Listen, I take all blame for everything that was done wrong, that was said wrong by me and I'm going to get back to enjoying what I do.’” Fallon: “He gets critiqued on everything he does.” Wade: “I've never seen nothing like it before. ... No other sports icon can really say they deal exactly with what he deals with or has dealt with” (
“Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” NBC, 6/26).
DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME: Bosh yesterday appeared on “Live! With Kelly” and said losing in the NBA Finals last year “was very tough.” Bosh: “A lot of people just see it as playing basketball, but we put everything into it and it can really give you a lot of pain and a lot of pleasure at the same time. But last year was really rough, but it was really great to win it this year.” Bosh added, “I got to meet OPRAH. It was pretty great.” Host KELLY RIPA replied, “Wait! Where was this?” Bosh said that he “can’t remember which day, I think it was Thursday we won and then Friday they said --” Guest co-host TYLER PERRY interjected, “You can’t remember which day you won?” Bosh said, “I didn’t know what today was. But they were like, ‘Okay, we’re going to do the parade and then do this and do that. Oprah’s going to be there and you’re going to talk to Oprah.’ I was like, ‘What?’” Ripa: “So you’re wife is freaking out, like, ‘What should I wear?’ Right?” Bosh replied, “I’m freaking out” (“Live! With Kelly,” 6/26). Bosh also is scheduled to appear on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" tonight (THE DAILY).
