Washington ? Everything was going fine until President Bush dropped the ball.

Bush honored the Miami Heat championship basketball team on Tuesday, joking with the team in his usual manner. But Shaquille O’Neal got the last laugh when Bush tried to bounce a basketball while standing next to the 7-foot-1 star.

It thudded flat on the stage. Bush looked startled as O’Neal and his teammates laughed.

So much for the president’s basketball career.

Bush lauded the Heat, the latest team to get the presidential treatment in the East Room. He noted that the team did it the hard way, losing the first two to the Dallas Mavericks before winning four straight – a rare feat – to win the series.

“It was a team effort that got these men here to the White House,” Bush said as the players stood behind him.

“They had the stars, everybody knew who they – who the stars are, but it was the capacity to play together, to put the team ahead of themselves, that enabled them to be here at the White House,” the president said.

Still, there was some star treatment Tuesday. Most of the team entered the room, and then three big names had a separate entrance – O’Neal, superstar guard Dwyane Wade and celebrity coach Pat Riley.

“Standing next to Shaq,” Bush said, “is an awe-inspiring experience.”