Dikembe Mutombo brought out the best in nuggets and the best in people

For Cory Slater, it was love at first sight. When Dikembe Mutombo put his left hand on Shawn Kemp's hip and his right hand on history and blocked his eighth Seattle shot in the Nuggets' legendary Game 5 victory over the top-seeded SuperSonics, a boy from New Jersey knew he had found his team had and his player. His moment and his muse.

“I’m only 12 years old and I’ve just started playing sports,” Slater, now 42, told me by phone on Monday evening. “I didn’t know what significance that had for the Nuggets. I didn't know what that meant. But watching everyone go crazy – I've been a Nuggets fan ever since.

“In the 90s everyone had 'their' man. He was “our” guy. He turned me into a Nuggets fan. He made me not only a Nuggets fan, but a sports fan as well.”

Before Nikola Jokic, there was Mount Mutombo. No. 55, who died Monday at the far too early age of 58 after a battle with brain cancer, brought the world to the Nuggets. And the nuggets to the world.

“He was always global-minded,” recalled former Denver teammate LaPhonso Ellis, a fixture on those teams of the early 1990s, including the 1993-94 squad under coach Dan Issel that was the first No. 8 in the NBA -Playoffs seeded at No. 8 at all was going to upset a No. 1 seed.

“And a lot of that may be due to his origins (the Democratic Republic of Congo), but the reality is that many people didn't know that he was raising two of his nieces and nephews before he ever raised one of his own children. Some of it was cultural. But to be able to handle that level of responsibility and give up himself to take on that level of responsibility says a lot about his character and who he was as a person.”

As for who, Deke's Instagram probably said it best: The Son of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo. CEO, NBA Global Ambassador, humanitarian, businessman, father and now…Hall-of-Famer.

Drafted by the Nuggets from John Thompson's Georgetown dynasty in 1991 and spending the first five seasons of his 18-year NBA career in Denver, Mutombo seemed forever bigger than the game. Although he shined there too: Mutombo, Rudy Gobert and Ben Wallace are the only players to ever be named NBA Defensive Player of the Year four times.

It was one of the rarest of legends, the kind we can close our eyes and conjure from sound alone. The Thought when his palm hit a basketball and fired a shot five rows back. That laugh. The one that came from deep in the gut, deep in the soul, a thunderbolt of pure joy.

Whether through the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation or through a finger wagging, Deke gave more than he got. In an era where Jordan, Barkley and Hakeem were outstanding scorers, Mutombo provided cool defense. When we think of epic blocked shots, his hands are what we reach for. His finger had the last laugh.

His joy was contagious. His reach was enormous. He was fierce on the court but otherwise polite and considerate. His interests and circles were diverse: Deke spoke nine languages ​​and appeared – as himself – in the bawdy animated comedy “Family Guy,” while counting both the late Sen. John McCain and fellow Hoya great Patrick Ewing among his friends .

“I never saw Bill Russell play,” Issel told me on Monday. “But I think Dikembe is, in my opinion, the best defensive player to ever play in the NBA.

“But I think because of his great personality and his booming voice and all that, a lot of people remember his career after (playing) when he became (an ambassador for the) NBA, because he did so much good.” Overall World, but especially in Congo, his home country, could overshadow what a great player he was.”

To most people under 30, he's the guy in the Geico commercials, wagging his fingers and making jokes. But for fans like Slater, he was an inspiration. The latter grew in New Brunswick, New Jersey, about 30 miles from Trenton. Nets/Knicks territory. He joined the Nuggets in the 90s. That would be a bit like a sixth-grader growing up an hour away from the Dodgers today and rooting for the Rockies anyway.

“Dikembe’s career impressed me. And the fact that he was so internationally known and how seriously he took his love for people,” Slater continued. “I remember when they finally won the championship (in 2023). I started crying.”

He came for Mutombo. He stayed for Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Slater was born with cerebral palsy. His father took him to Knicks games, but he remembers New York fans teasing him. He also remembers simultaneously watching Abdul-Rauf's actions at the free throw line and thinking that anything was possible.