The Portland Trail Blazers brought back Natalie Gilbert, now Natalie Zito, to sing the national anthem prior to a game against the New York Knicks on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.

Maurice Cheeks helped Natalie Gilbert finish the national anthem when she performed it at a Portland Trail Blazers game in 2002. She returned to sing it again more than 20 years later.

Twenty-two years after her last national anthem performance before a Portland Trail Blazers game, Natalie Gilbert was back Wednesday night to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" with Maurice Cheeks in ...

Natalie Gilbert (Zito) joins the Trail Blazers broadcast after making her return to the microphone after 22 years.

THE ARENA — You likely don't remember Natalie Gilbert Zito's name, but you probably have seen the video of her singing the "The Star-Spangled Banner" before an NBA game 22 years ago. Zito, then ...

Maurice Cheeks helped Natalie Gilbert finish the national anthem when she performed it at a Portland Trail Blazers game in 2002. She returned to sing it again more than 20 years later.

It was 22 years ago, 20 seconds deep into the National Anthem, when then-13-year-old Natalie Gilbert forgot the words. If her brain freeze wasn’t bad enough, it felt like the entire world was ...

Bill Oram’s commentary on national anthem singer Natalie Gilbert (now Natalie Zito) was for me, in Oram’s words, a “tonic for our times,” (“Bill Oram: Natalie Gilbert’s anthem reprise ...