Mutombo moves past Kareem

On his fourth of a season-high five blocks tonight, Dikembe Mutombo (3,191) moved past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (3,189) into second on the NBA's all-time blocked shots list. Hakeem Olajuwon (3,830) stands as the league's all-time leader.

"Going behind Hakeem Olajuwon is one of the things that inspires all of us as young Africans who came to America to follow the dream of playing basketball. He opened the door to show that you could come into game and dominate. And that's the reason why I'm going out today and buying champagne and toasting it to Hakeem Olajuwon for leading an example for me and inspiring me. He was a great role model for me."

Mutombo also matched the Rockets, as well as his season high of 19 rebounds tonight. He now has double-digit rebounding totals in each of his last eight games (12/27/06-1/10/07), which includes setting his original season high with 19 boards vs. Utah (1/5/07).

The last time Mutombo had eight straight games of 10 or more rebounds was back in 2000-01 with the Atlanta Hawks (9 games: 12/15/00-1/2/01). The last Rockets player with a stretch of eight or more consecutive double-digit rebounding performances was Charles Barkley with a 10-game streak (4/15/99-5/2/99).