THE SPORT COUNT

You’ve seen him sitting on the bench. You’ve seen him pat his teammates on the back. You’ve even seen him get three minutes in a blow-out, contributing hustle rebounds and inexplicable turnovers. But what do you really know about D.J. Mbenga?

Didier Ilunga-Mbenga is an enigma, a large-eyed Belgian mystery. He appears good-natured, the Fezzik of the league. Like that friendly giant of popular culture yore, Mbenga was born into cruel circumstances:

“Congo Cash” was born in and raised in Zaire [...] where his father was a government employee. When a new regime took over power, it sought everyone who worked for the previous leader. As unrest in the country escalated, Mbenga’s father was imprisoned^. Although he was eventually unable to save himself, he did manage to negotiate on behalf of his sons, who were also imprisoned and waiting to be executed. Mbenga fled the country on a plane to Belgium, where he received asylum. While living in a refugee center, he was discovered by Belgian basketball legend Willy Steveniers, who eventually served as Mbenga’s personal basketball mentor.

An incredible story… and just the kind of tale of misfortune overcome that Adonal Foyle would really enjoy reading about.

Yes, Adonal is a reader. (He’s also a member of a profession in which simply reading books consistently marks you as a person of substantial interest).

He’s also a writer of poetry — he collaborates with Washington Wizards centre Etan Thomas — and book reviews. In 2001, he founded Democracy Matters, a grassroots organisation designed to ‘counteract apathy’ on campuses across the United States. In other words, he’s a very good human.

And so, when an enigmatic benchwarmer with a personal history out of a James Baldwin anecdote goes head-to-head with a literate, thinktank-operating walking inspiration, what do you have?

You have a battle played out in the timeouts and stoppages of the Finals; two engaging (if only sporadically active) ballers duking it out in the ‘getting to know the players’ promos run by ESPN, ABC and TNT.

Human interest — that’s Foyle’s bread and butter. But with Mbenga’s tale of international adversity, D.J. is a dark horse candidate to steal the narrative limelight from Adonal.

Advantage: Anyone who loves a good story!

Tyronn 'Ken' Lue Vs. Sun 'Chun-Li' Yue

Yue starts the round by blocking — a prudent move against the fireball happy Lue, who blazes away with two medium punch hadokens.

Lue then leaps backward, only to be thwarted by Yue’s spinning bird kick, which is good enough for first strike and some additional damage.

Now cornered, Lue brings out the big guns, a three hit dragon-punch, right to the guts, sending the bench splintering and Sun Yue’s hopes at game time spinning away as fast as the birds around his head.

Dizzied, Lue throws Yue across the screen. This one looks like it’s over…

The screen flashes yellow… you know what time it is: ULTRA COMBO! Sun Yue strings together a 16-hit spinning bird kick, feather kick finisher, ending this bout.

Neither player flirts with court time throughout the whole round.

Posted By: Anton & James