SAN ANTONIO -- The only things missing were a sit-in and signs calling for a boycott at Thursday afternoon's NBA Finals practice session in what amounted to a "Free Deke" uprising among the national media.
Granted, there is no sense comparing Dikembe Mutombo today to the player who won four defensive player of the year awards and is the only player ever to win three consecutive shot-blocking titles. And that's not to deny most people believe the New Jersey Nets center passed 40 some time ago, even though he supposedly is going to be celebrating his 37th birthday in a few weeks.
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| The Spurs' Steve Smith can empathize with Dikembe Mutombo when it comes to languishing on the bench.(Getty Images) |
With the San Antonio Spurs taking control with their 7-foot duo of Tim Duncan and David Robinson, the Nets did little inside against them during a 101-89 loss in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night.
And if the Nets want to get back into this series, Kenyon Martin, Jason Collins and Aaron Williams will need a major infusion of Deke -- or they'll experience a rerun of their sweep by the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals a year ago.
Mutombo played six minutes in the first half of Game 1 and immediately blocked a Duncan dunk attempt and dove to the floor to recover the ball before calling a timeout. It was quite a display for someone who played only 24 games during the regular season after tearing ligaments in his right wrist at the end of November, not returning until March 29.
"That was a great relief," Mutombo said. "Right after coming into the game, that was great. To see all my teammates was pumped about me getting there and diving for a loose ball, it made me feel part of the group again. And it's been a long time from when I was on the court with teammates giving me a high five and reacting emotionally. I was so happy. I was looking to feel some of that excitement in the second half, but I was not lucky enough to play.
"I had so much energy, I felt like I was 20 again. Maybe that comes from sitting all that time."
Therein lies the rub. Nets coach Byron Scott has been loath to use Mutombo. It was happening before he tore the wrist ligament, and it has gotten worse since he returned. That would be fine were it not for the fact Nets president Rod Thorn traded Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch to Philadelphia for Mutombo as the final defensive piece to the puzzle that could help them return to the Finals as champs of the East -- but win it this time.
The trade aside, Mutombo is making more than $16 million for all of this bench time and will make even more next season.
"The big issue at the beginning of the season was about minutes," Mutombo said. "I had questions about going from 42 minutes in Philadelphia, coming to a team that was playing 19-20 minutes. I found I couldn't do all the things I used to do in that short period of time. I think there was a little bit of a misunderstanding. I was getting my rhythm going and I got hurt. I don't how to say it ... I'm going to look at this when everything is over.
"I don't want to be portrayed as someone trying to create a lot of controversy here in the Finals and trying to get something done with this group. I have to be very careful on everything I say because in the first round of the playoffs, things I was saying were interpreted in a different way. I learned a lot of lessons from that. I don't know if that's what created this feud of me not playing. There were things I said in the beginning that maybe that played into all of this stuff too. I don't know. I was brought to help the organization to win the championship. Now we are in a championship, I'm sitting on the bench."
Scott was particularly smug about Mutombo and sticking with what got the Nets there when asked about it Wednesday night after the game. He softened his stance Thursday, perhaps after looking at the video and realizing that for all of the liabilities Mutombo has offensively and in the rotating schemes on defense, he is a necessary presence inside defensively against Duncan and Robinson, particularly since Martin will inevitably get into foul trouble guarding Duncan.
"Well, it gives me a different option because I thought in those six minutes he played pretty well," Scott said. "He did some good things. It's got me wondering if I should play him a little bit more and then I have to start thinking about which guys do I cut down as far as time is concerned."
Mutombo played long enough to catch an errant elbow from Robinson above the left side of his mouth that had butterfly stitching to close it up. "I know he didn't mean it," Mutombo said. "It was just a 'Welcome back Deke, where you been?'"
He has been on the bench. In the waning years of his career, this is the best shot he will have at getting a ring, coming just two years after he and the Sixers lost in five games during the Lakers' second run to the title.
Steve Smith, his former teammate in Atlanta, is similarly a fixture on the Spurs bench and empathizes with Mutombo.
"Yeah, we talked about it before the series," Smith said. "I still think he'll get more minutes as the series goes along. I guess he thought when he dove for that ball, he would get more minutes last night. That will teach him."
All kidding aside, it's a tough situation. From Scott's perspective, everything they've done so far this season has worked just fine without Mutombo, and he didn't like the fit from the start. On the other hand, Martin is the only player equipped to deal with Duncan at all, and he'll need plenty of help. Collins and Williams are too marginal in size and strength to make a difference in their defense.
That should leave a crack in the door for Mutombo to drag his 7-2, 265-pound frame through.
"I'm very comfortable with myself," Mutombo said. "I'm not panicking. I'm confused with all these things going on. I want to be happy, I have a wife and kids to look after, and I have my dad who I have to look after. There are a lot of things that have happened in my life that make me unhappy, but I have to find a way to be happy. Otherwise, I will be putting more stress on myself. I've got a baby coming in two weeks, so I cannot be putting so much stress on myself. I should be happy with God's gift to me."
Should is the operative word and get minutes the end of the phrase as the "Free Deke Movement" lives.
