Most only remember Dikembe Mutombo as a shot-blocking genius. But, during the first half of his rookie season in 1991, Deke looked like he was going to be the next Patrick Ewing and not Mark Eaton. The rookie All-Star had a 27 and 17 performance in his second NBA game and eight 20 and 10 games in the first month of his career. He even exploded for a 39-point, 21-rebound performance during his rookie campaign, which put him on the radar of veteran superstars who wanted to challenge and/or embarrass him. And no veteran superstar enjoyed messing with popular rookies more than Michael Jordan.
During MJ’s first game against Deke and the Nuggets — during Mutombo’s red-hot first month — Jordan dropped 37 points with his final point coming off an eyes-closed free throw dedicated to the rookie.
“This one’s for you, baby.”
The rookie didn’t do too bad either in the loss: 22 points (team high), 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals, and escaped getting dunked on by the man who loves dunking on big men Hoyas.
But Deke could only escape from being on a Jordan poster for so long.
(The funniest thing about this video is MJ telling Deke they are going to take his green card while arguing if he ever dunked on him)
Speaking of memorable first meetings, as bad as Mutombo probably felt after MJ’s taunt, I’m sure he didn’t feel as bad as the little kid who was able to get right next to Jordan after the eyes-closed free throw and not get his autograph.
The coldest thing Michael Jordan did wasn’t the blind free throw but ignoring the kid on the court who wanted an autograph. The excuse is he still had his eyes closed.
I can’t imagine how the internet would react if LeBron did this today. pic.twitter.com/vfUmfDPO3K
— David Astramskas (@redapples) November 23, 2018
I know this is mean, but how funny would it have been if Mutombo gave the kid the finger wag after seeing him not get MJ’s signature.
MICHAEL JORDAN FREE THROW MOMENTS
MJ taunting Deke is my favorite MJ/Free Throw video, but here is some competition.
- Free Throw Dunk in the 88 Dunk Contest
- Tip dunk off of Pippen’s missed free throw
- MJ also made a free throw with his eyes closed during a Magic Johnson charity game in 1988
And this one is from the future (2025). A 62-year-old MJ tells a story about him being nervous because he had to make a free throw for some kids.
Michael Jordan wasn't lying about swishing the free throw in front of the kids
(via @MyBodyTutor) pic.twitter.com/6YjzLUnQoc https://t.co/Ikm3U4xxbm
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) October 23, 2025