[外電] Knee injury may end Mutombo's career
Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/news/story?id=4087774
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Knee injury may end Mutombo's career
Updated: April 22, 2009, 10:18 AM ET
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PORTLAND, Ore. -- Houston Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo said his lengthy
career is finished after a knee injury knocked him out of the Rockets'
playoff game Tuesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers.
"For me, basketball is over," he said.
Mutombo, an 18-year NBA veteran, appeared to get tangled with Portland center
Greg Oden and came down hard on his left leg late in the first quarter of
Game 2 and did not return.
He stayed prone on the court under the Blazers' basket for several moments
before he was taken away by stretcher. A preliminary examination revealed a
knee strain.
Afterward in Houston's locker room, the 7-foot-2 veteran was on crutches and
fighting back tears.
"Nobody ever thought they'd be carrying the big guy out like a wounded
soldier," he said.
Mutombo, the league's oldest player at 42, will be examined by doctors in
Houston on Wednesday.
"Dikembe is one of the statesmen of this league," teammate Shane Battier
said. "There's not a better guy. To see him in pain is tough to see. He cares
so much about this game that he doesn't want to end his career like that.
That's the tragedy of it, too."
Mutombo is an eight-time All-Star who won the NBA's Defensive Player of the
Year award four times and stands in second on the NBA's career blocks list
with 3,289. He has played for Denver, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New
York and Houston.
In 1,196 career games, Mutombo has averaged 9.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.7
blocks.
Moreover, Mutombo is known for his humanitarian work. He founded the Dikembe
Mutombo Foundation in 1997 to benefit the people of his homeland of Kinshasha
in the Congo. In 2007, he opened the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and
Research Center there, named after his mother.
The Rockets re-signed Mutombo in December after he played in 39 games with
the team the previous season. He was a free agent and had considered
retirement.
He played in nine regular-season games with the Rockets, averaging 1.8
points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.22 blocks.
Mutombo played 18 minutes in Game 1 of the series and had nine rebounds. The
Rockets won the opener, 108-81, before the Blazers evened the series with a
107-103 victory on Tuesday.
"I've had a wonderful 18 years of staying injury-free, so I just want to go
out with my head up, no regrets," he said.
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