By Jeph Duarte | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2026-08-11 19:00:00
最近我在X（原推特）上看到了这个，不禁会心一笑。说来也巧，我最近刚在Netflix上看了纪录片《体坛秘闻：开拓者“监狱队”时代》(Untold : Jail Blazers)。这部纪录片讲述了21世纪初波特兰开拓者队追逐总冠军的历程。片中出现了拉希德·华莱士 (Rasheed Wallace)、邦奇·威尔斯 (Bonzi Wells)、达蒙·斯塔德迈尔 (Damon Stoudamire) 和肖恩·坎普 (Shawn Kemp)（但由于未解释的原因，斯科蒂·皮蓬 (Scottie Pippen) 并未出镜）。
当时，莫里斯·奇克斯 (Maurice Cheeks) 是开拓者队的助理教练。在2003年4月25日的一场比赛前，他挺身而出，帮助一位年轻的表演者演唱了国歌。
2003年，NBA最令人讨厌的球队，却做出了篮球场上最善良的举动。
2003年4月25日。波特兰玫瑰花园球馆。首轮对阵达拉斯的第三场比赛。开拓者大比分0-2落后，从清晨睁眼那一刻起，他们就面临着被淘汰的边缘。
那支开拓者队有一个绰号：“监狱开拓者”（Jail Blazers）。
在当时，他们可能是职业体育界最不讨人喜欢的球队。逮捕、禁赛，整支球队的名单里塞满了被全国媒体视为恶棍的球员。波特兰的球迷们对他们感到精疲力竭。
比赛开始前，一位名叫娜塔莉·吉尔伯特 (Natalie Gilbert) 的13岁女孩走到球场中央，准备在19,980名观众面前演唱国歌。
馆内没有人知道她生病了。她得了流感。她后来回忆说，那天她感觉整个人状态非常糟糕。
她唱了开头几句。
接着，她的脑海一片空白。
她把“twilight’s last gleaming”（暮色余辉）错唱成了“star’s last gleaming”（星光余辉），她立刻意识到了错误，并停了下来。她环顾四周，用手捂住了脸。
13岁的年纪。两万名观众。全国电视直播。她僵在了原地。
对一个人来说，没有比这更令人绝望的感受了。
就在这时，一个男人从开拓者队的战术板前走了出来。
莫里斯·奇克斯，这位主教练，在距离季后赛生死战仅剩几分钟的时候，离开了他的球队，穿过球场，搂住她的肩膀说：“来吧。”
然后，他开始和她一起唱。
要知道，莫里斯·奇克斯根本不会唱歌。一点都不会。他完全不是为了去拯救这场表演。
他只是不忍心让一个孩子独自孤零零地站在那里。
他全程都搂着她，给她提示接下来的歌词。短短几秒钟内，球馆里的19,980名观众全部起立，和他们一起合唱。
一个本将以最糟糕的方式定义这个小女孩一生的瞬间，却走向了完全相反的温馨结局。
丹·帕特里克 (Dan Patrick) 当时写道，奇克斯这简单的举动已经成为整个季后赛最具代表性的瞬间。
他们一起上了杰·雷诺 (Jay Leno) 的脱口秀、CNN以及《早安美国》。这成为了NBA最早真正“病毒式传播”的瞬间之一，而当时这个词甚至还没有如今的含义。
开拓者输掉了那场比赛，也输掉了那轮系列赛。奇克斯在开拓者队的执教生涯以相当平庸的战绩结束，并最终被解雇。
接下来是故事的结局。
2025年3月，时隔近22年后，莫里斯·奇克斯作为纽约尼克斯队的助理教练回到了波特兰。
开拓者队找到了娜塔莉·吉尔伯特。
她现在已经35岁了，结了婚，名字改成了娜塔莉·齐托 (Natalie Zito)。而且，她现在还是开拓者队的季票持有者。
他们邀请她回来，再次演唱国歌。
她唱得完美无瑕。全场欢呼雷动。镜头切到场边的奇克斯，他笑得像一位骄傲的父亲。
两人在赛前见面并拥抱。
她事后说的话，正是这个故事如此动人的原因。她解释说，自己小时候经常被嘲笑，而在她感到最无助、最绝望的时刻，一个陌生人毫不犹豫地朝她走了过来。
“那一刻改变了我的人生。”
接着，她说了更令人动容的话。她说，如果可以重来，她不会去改变那一切。再次见到他，发现他依然是那个正直、有担当的人，这证明了当年的一切都是如此真实。
二十二年。搭在肩膀上的一只手。
关注 @thesportsontap，我们每天都会发布这样的故事。pic.twitter.com/UKHsdBpAm5
— the Sports ON Tap (@thesportsontap) 2026年8月9日
2025年3月，莫里斯·奇克斯回到了波特兰，这一次他是作为纽约尼克斯队的助理教练。他们邀请了娜塔莉·齐托（原名吉尔伯特）——也就是2003年的那位歌手——再次演唱国歌。如今35岁的齐托已经是一名季票持有者。
在这个没有篮球比赛的夏天，这是一个非常温馨、治愈的故事。
由生成式 AI 翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
查看原文：Open Thread: Remembering a heartwarming moment involving Maurice Cheeks
Open Thread: Remembering a heartwarming moment involving Maurice Cheeks
I saw this on X recently and had to smile. As it just so happens, I had caught Untold : Jail Blazers on Netflix. The documentary discussed the early 2000s Portland Trail Blazers and their quest for a title. It featured Rasheed Wallace, Bonzi Wells, Damon Stoudamire, and Shawn Kemp (but for reasons unexplained not Scottie Pippen).
At the time, Maurice Cheeks was Portland’s assistant coach. He stepped up before the game on April 25, 2003 and helped a young performer sing the national anthem.
In 2003, the most hated team in the NBA did the kindest thing anyone has ever done on a basketball court.
April 25, 2003. Rose Garden, Portland. Game 3 of the first round against Dallas. The Blazers are down 2-0 and facing elimination from the moment they wake up.
That Blazers team had a nickname. The Jail Blazers.
They were, at the time, maybe the least likable team in professional sports. Arrests. Suspensions. A roster full of guys the national media treated as villains. Portland fans were exhausted by them.
Before the game, a 13 year old girl named Natalie Gilbert walks to center court to sing the national anthem in front of 19,980 people.
What nobody in the building knew is that she was sick. She had the flu. She later said she just didn’t feel like herself at all that day.
She gets a few lines in.
And then her brain goes blank.
She sings “star’s last gleaming” instead of “twilight’s last gleaming,” realizes it instantly, and stops. She looks around. She puts her hand to her face.
Thirteen years old. Twenty thousand people. National television. Frozen.
There is no worse feeling available to a human being.
And then a man walks out of the Portland huddle.
Maurice Cheeks, the head coach, minutes away from a playoff elimination game, leaves his team, walks across the floor, puts his arm around her shoulder and says, “C’mon.”
Then he starts singing with her.
Now understand something. Maurice Cheeks cannot sing. At all. He is not remotely trying to rescue the performance.
He’s just refusing to let a kid stand there alone.
He keeps his arm around her the whole way. He feeds her the next words. And within a few seconds, all 19,980 people in that building stand up and sing it with them.
A moment that was going to define a little girl’s life in the worst possible way became the exact opposite.
Dan Patrick wrote at the time that Cheeks’ simple actions had become the defining moment of the entire playoffs.
They went on Jay Leno together. CNN. Good Morning America. It became one of the first truly viral NBA moments, years before that word meant anything.
Portland lost the game. They lost the series. Cheeks finished his Blazers tenure with a fairly ordinary record and was eventually let go.
Now here’s the ending.
In March 2025, almost 22 years later, Maurice Cheeks came back to Portland as an assistant coach with the New York Knicks.
The Blazers found Natalie Gilbert.
She’s 35 now. Married. Goes by Natalie Zito. She’s also, as it turns out, a Blazers season ticket holder.
They brought her back to sing the anthem again.
She nailed it. The whole building erupted. And the camera cut to Cheeks on the sideline, beaming like a proud father.
The two of them met before the game and hugged.
What she said afterward is why this story matters. She explained that she’d been made fun of a lot as a kid, and that in the moment she felt most helpless and hopeless, a stranger walked right over with no hesitation.
“This moment changed my life.”
And then she said something even better. That she wouldn’t go back and change any of it. That seeing him again and finding out he’s still the same standup guy proved it was all real.
Twenty two years. One arm around a shoulder.
Follow @thesportsontap, we post a story like this every day. pic.twitter.com/UKHsdBpAm5
— the Sports ON Tap (@thesportsontap) August 9, 2026
On March 2025, Maurice Cheeks came back to Portland, this time as an assistant coach with the New York Knicks. They invited Natalie Zito, née Gilbert — the same singer from 2003 — to perform the national anthem again. Now 35, Zito was a season ticket holder.
A pretty nice feel-good story to fill your basketball-less summer.
By Jeph Duarte, via Pounding The Rock