Dikembe Mutombo, the ‘king of shots’ and NBA legend, has died
Dikembe Mutombo, one of the NBA’s greatest defenders of all time, has died. The former basketball champion died at just 58 years old due to a brain tumor. He was originally from Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and was among the first African champions of American basketball.
Standing at 6.5 feet tall, Mutombo had been the king of blocks for 18 years (his record for three consecutive seasons, 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96) and rebounds (1999-00, 2000-01). Only Hakeem Olajuwon has made more blocks than his 3,289 (averaging two and a half per game) in NBA history.
Dikembe Mutombo and that iconic gesture with his finger after the blocks
After each ‘blocked shot’ he made a no gesture with his finger and said ‘not in my house’, not at my house, as if to say: you can’t go here. This in fact translated into the recognition of the best NBA defender for four seasons (1995, 1997, 1998, 2001), a record later equaled by Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert.
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