Short answers, pulled from the story.
Dikembe Mutombo recorded 3,289 career blocked shots, ranking second all-time in NBA history behind Hakeem Olajuwon at the time of his death on the 30th of September, 2024. He also led the NBA in blocked shots three times during his career.
Dikembe Mutombo won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award four times, a total tied only by Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert. He won consecutive awards in 1994-95 while with Denver, in 1996-97 and 1997-98 with Atlanta, and again in 2000-01 with Philadelphia.
Mutombo funded and built the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital, a $29 million, 300-bed facility on a 12-acre site in the Masina district of Kinshasa. When it opened in 2007, it was the first modern medical facility built in that area in nearly 40 years. He personally donated $3.5 million during construction and an additional $15 million toward its completion in 2006.
Mutombo developed the finger wag in 1992 as a deliberate strategy to become more marketable and secure product-endorsement contracts. The NBA eventually banned the gesture as unsportsmanlike conduct, after which Mutombo adapted by directing it at the crowd or television cameras rather than opposing players.
Mutombo was born on the 25th of June, 1966, in Leopoldville, now known as Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He moved to the United States in 1987 at age 21 to attend Georgetown University on a USAID scholarship, originally intending to earn a medical degree and return home to practice medicine.
The Denver Nuggets, seeded eighth, defeated the top-seeded Seattle SuperSonics, who had finished 63-19, making them the first eighth seed to beat a number one seed in an NBA playoff series. After falling to an 0-2 deficit, Denver won three straight games. Mutombo set a record for a five-game series with 31 total blocks, and at the end of Game 5 he grabbed the game-winning rebound and fell to the ground holding the ball over his head.