"In the end, the pain was too much to bear. Amar'e Stoudemire rarely shows emotion on the basketball court, and those close to him say had not cried since he was 12, when his father died. But Stoudemire could not hold back any longer.

As he spoke yesterday at his brother Hazell's funeral here at the First Baptist Church, a flood of feelings came forth.

"Big brother, oh man,'' Stoudemire said as he hunched over the pulpit, just above Hazell's closed casket, covered with a bouquet of red roses. "He was my guardian angel. He pretty much guided me all the way through, I'm proud to say.''

Earlier, when Stoudemire first walked into the church, the casket was open and he lovingly reached in to touch his brother's hand. This was a day filled with raw emotion.

"This is hurting me more than you could imagine,'' Stoudemire said."