This was in the LA Times this morning: Great line at the end:
High note: Natalie Gilbert, a 13-year-old eighth-grader, said she “just blanked” Friday when she tried to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Game 3 of the NBA playoff series between the Portland Trail Blazers and Dallas Mavericks at the Rose Garden in Portland.
Standing at center court, the words suddenly escaped her. But just as she was about to give up, Maurice Cheeks, Portland’s coach, walked over, put his arm around her, leaned close and started singing into the microphone. Gilbert joined him. So did many in the crowd of 20,000, and the most awkward of moments was saved.
Gilbert isn’t sure why she faltered, but thinks she might have been affected by flu.
As for Cheeks, the girl told John Canzano of the Portland Oregonian, “He saved me.”
Alas, Portland lost the game, proving, Canzano wrote, “that the Blazers’ players are less coachable than a flu-ridden teenage girl.”