Mutombo Ready To Rally The Troops

NBA legend leaving with no regrets

 

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Houston - Dikembe Mutombo laughed – that deep, raspy joyful noise that, like nearly everything else about the man, has often been imitated but never reproduced.

There wasn’t even the slightest hint of sorrow in his laughter, nor pain. Less than 48 hours after suffering a knee injury that would bring an end to his remarkable 18-year NBA career, Mutombo had already moved on.

“Maybe I think I cried enough while I was on the floor,” he said, laughing at the moment his seemingly ageless body had finally betrayed him. “The reason I was crying a lot was just because I was sitting there thinking, ‘I didn’t want to go like this.’ But it happened. It’s a part of the game. You don’t know what will happen to you. You might have a goal for how you want to go out, but sometimes it doesn’t go to your own wish.

“I think I have to be happy because I had a wonderful, wonderful ride for 18 years. I’m just one of the fallen soldiers who got wounded in battle.”

The analogy is apt, if perhaps a tad misleading since it neglects to mention that, especially during the latter part of his career, Mutombo was no mere foot solider. Instead, he more closely resembled a beloved, aging king still battling beside his loyal subjects; so great was his presence and the respect it commanded. Yet even that lofty comparison falls short in attempting to capture the complete essence of Mutombo, for he was so many things at once on the basketball court: friend, father figure, cheerleader, mentor – Yao Ming added one more to list.

“It’s very important to have our master right there,” he said, “Because, in this league, a lot of talented players disappear in a short career. But if you have a guy like him shadow you, his experience can teach you a lot. In the locker room he always does the right things and teaches the young guys to do the right thing.

“I heard he pushed back his surgery until next Monday so he could sit on the bench with us. That’s great courage right there; still going out after a big injury. I mean, it will really help us to still feel a great force on our bench that’s always there and never left. Obviously, this is his last season and now he’s out with this injury. This was our last opportunity to play together in the same uniform. He really helped us get out of trouble early in the season, so now it’s time for our young guys to do something for him.”

That Yao would find additional motivation to get beyond the first round as a way to honor his friend is not surprising; everything one needs to know about the respect Mutombo’s teammates hold for him was captured in the scene which unfolded Tuesday night at the Rose Garden, when every single Rockets player walked to the other end of the court in order to stand beside Deke in the minutes which followed his agonizing injury. And though that touching send-off was not at all how Mutombo had envisioned his NBA exit, he said he harbors no ill will toward what could be construed as an exceptionally cruel twist of fate.

“One thing I learned in life is you wake up everyday and you try to smile and be happy,” he said. “The big thing is what the next few hours will be like because we don’t control our destiny. We don’t. If it’s your time to go then you’ve got to go. I watched the replay of the game and I say, ‘Why did it happen?’ It was just an easy fall. But you don’t try to put so much question in yourself, otherwise you will have a difficult time to move on in your life. You have to accept the defeat, you have to accept the injury when it happens, and you have to move – and I’m ready to move. I’m going to be around and will still be a part of the Houston Rocket family.

“I will be here to support my teammates and give them my love and support. Those young guys who need advice, I will always try to be there to help them whenever they ask me. And I’ll also be on the bench to try to encourage my teammates to play at the best of their ability so we can win this. So I’m not going anywhere.”

He uttered the last line with just a trace of defiance; a playful verbal finger wag in the direction of any who might be foolish enough to question his allegiance, his peace or his pride. Then, as if to leave no doubt, he added: “I gave my best. I believe in my guys. They’re going to come out and be ready to leave their best on the floor, and we’re going to win this series.”

This time there was no laugh punctuating his statement – just the confident, regal smile of a man completely at ease; content with the accomplishments of his past while firmly focused on the fact that the best is yet to come. For himself. And for his team.

And 1’s: Mutombo departs as the NBA’s second all-time leading shot blocker, with eight All-Star selections and four Defensive Player of the Year awards to his name. But his legacy goes far beyond his on-court exploits, of course. For the past decade he has tirelessly worked to establish and fund the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center in his native Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mutombo solicited contributions for the $29 million, 300-bed facility and personally donated approximately $19 million. It seems only appropriate then that this Thursday he became the first two-time recipient of the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, an annual honor bestowed upon an NBA player or coach for outstanding service and dedication to the community.

“No player has given more freely his time, his money and himself, on a consistent basis, than Mutombo through the years,” said Doug Smith, president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association. “His and his foundation’s continuing efforts in building, maintaining and improving the hospital in Kinshasa are widely known and set a standard for NBA players and, frankly, athletes across all sports.”

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