Great job by NBA players to strive to bring some encouragement to people's whose lives have been turned upside down -- I bolded a couple of passages that really got me.
NBA stars bring smiles to evacuees
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
HOUSTON – Earlier Sunday, an 11-year-old Hurricane Katrina evacuee named Donald told participants in the NBA Players Hurricane Relief Game that he still hasn't heard from the rest of his family, two weeks after the killer storm ripped through New Orleans.
Then, for two hours Sunday evening, Donald smiled. He got to be a ball boy for the game.
From the moment Mavericks guard Jerry Stackhouse belted out the national anthem to the final dunk, survivors of Katrina who have been in Houston shelters could forget about their lives that have been so grim since the storm. At the same time, NBA players learned that the horrific stories they saw on television are even worse in person.
"We went through a shelter [Sunday] morning, and I had a lady tell me her son hasn't smiled since they got to Houston," Rockets star Tracy McGrady said. "He saw us and started smiling. Things like that, you can't put a price on."
Kobe Bryant (left) and Kevin Garnett were among more than 30 NBA stars who turned out for the hurricane relief game at the Toyota Center in Houston.
More than 30 of the NBA's biggest stars turned out for the hastily arranged game, in which the West beat the East, 114-95.
"NBA players get a bad rap sometimes," Stackhouse said. "But when it's time to step up and do the right thing, I think we step up to the plate as well as anybody."
As Minnesota's Kevin Garnett added: "We're human. And we have hearts, too."
Garnett got choked up as he was talking about taking pictures with families at a shelter. He stayed until every person got a snapshot after he heard a father tell his daughter that this is the only picture they have now after losing everything.
"There's never been a basketball game with more importance," TNT announcer Kenny Smith said.
The game and accompanying initiatives had raised more than $1 million even before the doors opened Sunday evening. While Shaquille O'Neal was noticeably absent, it didn't seem to bother the crowd of 11,416, who saw the Houston Rockets' Tracy McGrady pull off the topper late in the game when he made consecutive shots from 35 and 40 feet. He then rattled out a 45-footer.
But the basketball was a distant second to the smiles.
