New Orleans — As part of Essence Festival weekend in New Orleans, Master P hosted his celebrity basketball game for the third-straight year. It was Team Hope against Team Nola, with Nola winning it 91-88 in the final seconds.
“It was a close game,” Master P said after the game. “Romeo [Miller] played with the other team so we had to figure some other things out. They had a great team.”
The game was tied with under a minute to play, then with Team Nola– Coached by Master P– up by 3, Romeo Miller chucked-up a shot at the buzzer that almost dropped.
There were no shortage of highlights throughout the game and no shortage of laughs either with this group cutting up on the floor.
“I have to stop from laughing half of the time because the comedians are so funny,” said former NFL defensive tackle Marlon Favorite. “A little cardio for the day. A lot of fun. Competitive. I’ll tell you, those Millers? They’re off the chain. We had to run a zone defense on them last year.”
Team Nola may have walked away with the hardware, but this day was more about having fun for a good cause, befitting Master P’s Team Hope Nola Foundation.
“Master P has always been about community so this has everything to do with community today,” Favorite said.
“It’s great because I wanted to be a rapper so that I could use my platform to do positive things and give back to the community,” said New Orleans rapper Dee-1. “So it’s great every Essence Fest to be able to come back here and see our people uniting behind something positive.”
“This is about our people– New Orleans,” Master P said. “This is where we’re from. So it’s so important. God’s blessed me where I could come back and help out the community. Help out the kids out. This game is called “Balling for a Cause.” It’s about the next generation helping them with education. I just love all the people that came out and showed-out, had a lot of fun. This is a family event and it gets bigger and bigger every year.”