NBA mourns the death of Dikembe Mutombo, one of the greatest defenders of all time who passed away at the age of just 58 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 2.18 meters tall, for 18 years Mutombo had been the king of blocks (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.
After each ‘blocked shot’ he made a no gesture with his finger and said ‘not in 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.