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PHILADELPHIA
VS.
INDIANA
MILWAUKEE
VS.
ORLANDO
MIAMI
VS.
CHARLOTTE
NEW YORK
VS.
TORONTO
SAN ANTONIO
VS.
MINNESOTA
L.A. LAKERS
VS.
PORTLAND
SACRAMENTO
VS.
PHOENIX
UTAH
VS.
DALLAS
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Wednesday, May 30
Mutombo named league's top defender
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA – Dikembe Mutombo wasn't thinking about awards
or championships when this season started. He just wanted to get
back on the court.
During a September trip to the Congo, his native country,
Mutombo contracted a mild case of malaria. He was hospitalized
during the preseason and missed the first five games of the season.
But he returned to play for the Atlanta Hawks, then was dealt to
the Philadelphia 76ers at the trading deadline and went on to win
his fourth NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award on Monday. No
other player has won the award more than twice.
"This whole season has been a blessing," Mutombo said. "There
was no thought in my mind I would have this successful a year."
Mutombo received 48 of a possible 123 votes from a panel of
sports writers and broadcasters.
Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves was second with 26
votes, followed by Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs with 14.
"He's been tremendous, everything we expected when we got
him," Sixers coach Larry Brown said of his center.
Mutombo, acquired from Atlanta in a six-payer deal that sent
All-Star Theo Ratliff and Toni Kukoc to the Hawks, led the league
in rebounding at 13.5 per game and was fifth in blocked shots with
2.71.
In 26 games with the 76ers following the trade, he had four or
more blocks nine times, and on March 9 against the Hawks, he
recorded a season-high nine blocks.
"Everything started two months ago," Mutombo said. "My son
(Jean-Jacque) was born, a few days later I was traded to a good
team and I have a chance to be in the playoffs."
Mutombo averaged 10 points and was third in defensive rebounds
with 708. He finished the season sixth on the NBA's career blocked
shots list with 2,646.
|  | | Dikembe Mutombo wins the award for the fourth time, no one else has won it more than twice. |
Now his main focus is helping the Sixers get past the Indiana
Pacers in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Indiana's stunning 79-78 victory in Saturday's opener took
homecourt advantage away from Philadelphia.
"They're a good team, but I don't believe they should beat
us," said Mutombo, who had 12 points, 22 rebounds and five blocks
in Game 1.
Mutombo first won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1995
with Denver, then won with Atlanta in 1997 and '98, becoming the
first player to win it three times since it was first handed out in
1983.
Alonzo Mourning of Miami, winner of the award the past two
years, sat out most of this season with a kidney ailment.
Other two-time winners were: Sidney Moncrief (1983-84), Mark
Eaton (1985,'89), Dennis Rodman (1990-91) and Hakeem Olajuwon
(1993-94).
"I don't believe offense wins games," Mutombo said. "Defense
wins games."
Mutombo, originally drafted by the Denver Nuggets out of
Georgetown with the No. 4 overall pick in the 1991 draft, is in the
final year of a five-year contract he signed with Atlanta in 1996.
The Sixers have every intention of keeping him, and he says he's
happy to be in Philadelphia.
"Everything worked out for me," Mutombo said. "This
organizations has the will to win, to be successful for many
years."
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