NBA Methuselah Mutombo defies age

PHILADELPHIA – The numbers show that Dikembe Mutombo is the oldest player in the NBA. The question is: Just how old is he?

Well, whether he is 40 (according to NBA records), or 50, or somewhere in between, the veteran center of the Houston Rockets has been a source of inspiration and great play since he replaced Yao Ming, who suffered a fractured tibia in a Dec. 23 game.

Since Yao got hurt, Mutombo has averaged 13.2 rebounds – getting double figures off the boards in the last eight games – and 2.0 blocked shots. The former Philadelphia 76er grabbed 19 rebounds in Wednesday night’s win over the Los Angeles Lakers and his five blocks enabled him to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar into second place on the all-time list.

“It’s amazing, just the way I’m playing,” the 7-foot-2 Mutombo told the Houston Chronicle. “Even to myself, I’m sitting down like, ‘Whoa, is Mutombo really playing like that?’ I haven’t seen myself jumping for a rebound like that for a while.”

It’s been great to watch for the Rockets, who are 8-2 since Yao went down entering Saturday’s action. His teammates have a front-row seat.

“I had to pull him to the side and tell him how great he looked,” Tracy McGrady said on Rockets.com. “Night in and night out, the big guy is playing great basketball for us and we need him to. With Yao going down, the old man is getting it done out there on both ends of the court.”

Mutombo is in his third season with Houston and his 16th season overall with six NBA teams. He played in 106 games for the Sixers in 2001 and 2002, becoming the defensive anchor for the 2001 NBA Finals team after being acquired from Atlanta on Feb. 22, 2001.

In his time with the Sixers, Mutombo averaged 11.5 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.42 blocks in the regular season, and 13.0 points, 13.2 rebounds and 2.89 blocks in the playoffs. The Sixers traded him to New Jersey in August 2002.

Mutombo has 3,191 blocks in his career. He trails only Hakeem Olajuwon, who had 3,830 in his 18 years.