EDITORIAL NEW ORLEANS REBORN FLOODED CITY'S SPIRIT AN INSPIRATION.

AN ordinary thing like a basketball game doesn't often carry so much significance as the Hornet-Lakers matchup last week. But considering that this was the homecoming of the New Orleans team after it hadn't played at its home arena in the six months since Hurricane Katrina leveled the city, it's no surprise that the game was a sold-out show attended by celebrities and the NBA commissioner himself.

It was a moment for those remaining residents to show the world their commitment to the reconstruction of the Big Easy, even as they continue to live with the lingering effects of the storm that killed 1,700 and drove more than half the residents out of town.

Even the city's basic municipal functions are still just limping along. The city can't get it together to pick up` New Orleans neighborhoods for two weeks. Blackouts are a common occurrence across the city as the electrical grid is repaired. Houses destroyed by the flood sit rotting. Scores of people are still missing.

Indeed, there's evidence all around of the historic storm that burst through the city's protective levees.

Yet the spirit of New Orleans, at least as viewed from the outside, is an inspiration to us all.

Other cities can learn a lot from the spirit of those New Orleans residents who haven't let a little thing like the near-destruction of their homes and schools and offices and everything else dampen their spirits for long. The celebration of Mardi Gras last month, for example, was no less jubilant maybe even more than previous years.

More than ever, these events are a sign that New Orleans will revive and probably be an even greater city than it was before.