In less than 13 hours, Sacramento will tip off in the fifth and deciding game of its playoff series against the Utah Jazz. It will be one of the biggest basketball games of Divac's life. Everybody else on the Kings has long been out cold, but Divac's remote control is hotter than a skillet, hungry for any news from his native Serbia. He has practically worn out the keypad on the phone trying to call his parents along the Kosovo border, his brother in Belgrade, his friends all over Serbia. The night is long.
Every night there's more sorrow.
Divac says NATO has bombed his hometown of Prijepolje 10 times in two months. His cousin Milan, a bus driver, just had his leg blown off. One of his best friends hasn't been heard from in 10 days. The other day a bomb hit the bridge Divac used to ride his bike across every day to basketball practice. The force of the explosion blew out his parents' windows and wrecked their furniture.