The 83 billion year career of Dikembe Mutombo came to an end tonight in Portland when he suffered a bad injury while battling in the post with Greg Oden. Deke was carried out on a stretcher and received a proper sendoff from all players on the court as well as the Portland crowd. After the game’s conclusion, Mutombo confirmed that he’s moving on from the NBA:

“I’m going to need surgery. For me, basketball is over. I cried so much about it when I was laying on the floor.”

”I need to be positive and thank God for the wonderful 18 years I had,” he said.

Aside from sounding like the cookie monster, I’ll always remember Mutombo for the series where his #6 seed Nuggets upset the #1 seed SuperSonics in the first round of the 1994 NBA playoffs. I’m glad I got to see Deke play about a week and a half ago when Houston came to Golden State.