Blazers' Patty Mills keeps pushing to raise money for Australian flood victims
The devastating floods that wreaked havoc throughout Australia have slowly disappeared from the daily news cycle, but Patty Mills' efforts to raise money and awareness about the plight of his homeland is just hitting its stride.
Mills teamed with the Blazers to raise nearly $5,700 through a variety of fund-raising efforts in January. Now, through a grass roots campaign to sell T-shirts that Mills helped create, the Australian point guard has set a new goal of raising $50,000 to aid his battered country.
"When you're on the other side of the world, when you're far away from your family and friends, you really feel helpless," Mills said. "So I'm trying to do all I can to help out."
Mills came up with the idea to sell T-shirts with friend Josh Unruh, a former South Salem and St. Mary's basketball player who owns a T-shirt company (WearsMyShirt.com) that raises money for charities. Mills designed the shirt and the two made an initial batch of about 300 to sell at a women's basketball game at St. Mary's during the NBA All-Star break.
The shirts sold out.
"So we made some more," Mills said. "We've just been getting batch after batch because they just keep going out."
The shirts already have raised $13,000 for relief efforts. So don't be surprised if Mills -- and his teammates -- come to an arena or retail store near you as he zigzags Oregon to help his countrymen.
Mills has held events at retail shops in the Pearl District, at St. Mary's Academy in Portland and at a basketball game at the University of Portland, bringing teammates Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum along at different times to sign autographs, pose for pictures and help sales.
Mills rallied LaMarcus Aldridge, Wesley Matthews and Batum to travel to a University of Oregon women's basketball game tonight, where the foursome are scheduled to promote the T-shirts. Mills has filmed public service announcements that are viewable on Youtube and he filmed a commercial that was shown at a Blazers game and is expected to be released publicly in the future.
The shirts cost $20 and were designed with Mills and Australia in mind. There are three varieties -- a red/white combination representing the Blazers, a green/gold combination for Australia and a red/blue combination for St. Mary's. The fronts of the shirts are identical, featuring Australia on a globe, kangaroos and emus and the phrase "CHARITY STRIPE."
The animals, in particular, carry special meaning.
"Kangaroos and emus are the only two animals that can't walk backwards," Mills said. "So the reason for me putting them on the front of the shirt is to kind of symbolize moving forward. What's happened has happened, but let's not look back. Let's look forward and do what we can moving forward to fix what's happened. It was important to put them on the front of the shirt."
The floods and subsequent cyclone killed more than 35 people and caused billions of dollars in damage. Mills watched the disasters unfold nervously on television in NBA cities around the United States, hoping that friends and family would escape unharmed. They did, but many lost homes.
Batum remembers sitting next to Mills during a trip to Denver and watching his friend scan his phone for weather reports.
"He was looking at his phone and he was worried," Batum said. "He was like, '(The floods) are coming, here, here and here. And my family is here and here and here.' He couldn't do anything."
That so many of his teammates would offer to help Mills' cause is a reflection of the affection the players have for Mills, who has evolved into an ingredient in the Blazers' chemistry. Fans see Mills twirling towels on the Blazers' bench, sprinting onto the court to offer encouragement during timeouts and flashing "3 Goggles." Behind the scenes, his contributions are even more prominent, as teammates say he has a unique bond with everyone one team.
"He's the catalyst," Matthews said. "He's kind of like that centerpiece that has a relationship with everybody on this team. He's a great dude and we wouldn't be the team we are without him."
Before the Blazers' defeated the Sacramento Kings Wednesday night, they were still mired in a hangover from a depressing loss to the Houston Rockets the night before. But there was Mills in the pregame locker room, blaring Michael Jackson music and dancing around the cramped visiting quarters at PowerBalance Pavilion.
Later that night Mills would finish with a career-high-tying 14 points and three assists, lifting the Blazers with his play and spirit.
"Even when things are going bad, he's smiling all the time," Batum said before the Kings game. "Yesterday, we (had) no laughs in the locker room. It was a bad loss. But he's in here dancing everywhere and laughing. So everybody was smiling. He brings some fun."
He's also trying to bring some help to his homeland. It will take years for Australia to recover from its recent devastation, but the rebuilding has to start somewhere. And Mills figures it might as well start with him.
"I'm hearing from people on the phone, through texts and calls, and on Facebook and Twitter, who are saying, 'Thank you for what you're doing,'" Mills said. "I wish I could do more. But if 30-odd billion is the number it's going to take to rebuild the country, we're just trying to do what we can to help put a dent in that. If 20 bucks a shirt can help rebuild someone's house, great."
Notes: Mills said T-Shirts are available for purchase online at
www.wearsmyshirt.com, in retail stores at the Rose Quarter, at University of Oregon team stores and at Compound in the Pearl District. The Blazers already have sold 321 from Rose Quarter stores. ... After playing a back-to-back, the Blazers were off Thursday. They will return to practice Friday in preparation for a Saturday night home game against the Charlotte Bobcats.
-- Joe Freeman;
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Cavs led by 1 at the half but SA pulled a 12 pt lead in the 3rd and pushed up to 20+ during the 4th, pulled the starters and ended up winning by 10, 109-99. Bummer for the home team fans who had a fan-night special of free chalupas if the Cavs score 100 
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6-8 from the field. Take that a6m5 (aka Patty hater).
<- J/K about that last part, but really great to see Patty have a good game, and got the selection over Roy this time too by the looks of it.
That guy just irks me.
I understand that it's big news how Miami struggles against winning clubs 
