If you were watching closely during Wednesday's matchup between the Los Angeles Clippers and Detroit Pistons, you might have noticed that Clippers point guard Chris Paul had something written on his sneakers:
... but you might not have known why the All-Star had "L.E.G." on his kicks.
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"L.E.G." stands for Lisa Elaine Gallagher, who died in early September after fighting glioblastoma — a cancerous tumor that develops in the supportive tissue of the brain, can spread quickly and aggressively, and often leads to severe headaches, nausea, and memory and/or speech difficulties — for nearly a year. She was 49. She left behind a husband, Michael, and six children.
One of those children, Jack, made and shared a video tribute to his mother earlier this month, in which he detailed the love of hoops he shared with his mom, the bond the two built over the game, and the special relationship he had to a particular pair of CP3-branded Nike basketball shoes that Mrs. Gallagher had given Jack before his seventh-grade basketball tryouts:
From Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times
Jack wore the shoes his mother gave him until they gave him blisters. But his body language signaled his sorrow in the realization he would soon have to move on to another pair.
"What's the matter?" Jack's father finally asked him. "He said, 'The shoes don't fit anymore.'"
Jack placed one sneaker on his mother's grave, inserting purple roses into the opening. He stuffed the other in his gym bag and touches it before each of his eighth-grade team's games.
When you try to make contact with a celebrity of CP3's magnitude via social media, there's no guarantee that you're actually going to get on his radar. In this case, though, Jack's tribute made its way to Paul quickly, and made an impact even quicker, according to Bolch:
After watching the video within 24 hours of its posting, Paul contacted his wife and personal assistant.
"I sent them the link," Paul recalled, "and I said, 'Find him.'"
They located the Gallaghers of Erie, Pa., and arrangements were made for Jack and several family members, coaches and friends to make the 3 1/2-hour drive to watch the Clippers play the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills as Paul's guests. The All-Star will take the floor with "L.E.G." inscribed on his shoes. [...]
"To know that someone cares about me that much to where his mom did that for him and to know he put that on his mom's grave," Paul said, "I got goose bumps, I got chills."
And so, Paul took a marker to his game shoes for Wednesday's visit to The Palace at Auburn Hills, and set about giving Jack and his family — including father Michael, who is out of work, suffering from kidney failure and in need of a transplant, according to Bolch — a reason to smile amid some exceptionally tough times.
It might not have been the game of the All-NBA triggerman's life, but it was customarily impressive, as Paul poured in 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting to go with seven assists, two rebounds and a steal in 36 1/2 minutes as the Clippers topped the Pistons, 104-98, to improve to 9-5 on the season and 4-1 on their current seven-game road trip.
In addition to the starring performance and on-court tribute, Paul reportedly planned to set Jack up with plenty of size-appropriate CP3 kicks to wear when suiting up for his high school squad. But Bolch writes that "Paul will take possession of the more meaningful gift: a framed montage of photos showing Jack and Lisa along with a cutout of the tongue of the CP3s the mom had given her son."
"Sometimes," as Paul told Bolch, "stuff is bigger than the game of basketball."
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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