Mutombo and Rose didn't just give it their all; They gave Philly everything

Let's say you were lucky enough to play in the NBA between 1991 and 2009.

In this case, there's a good chance your chance to score was thwarted by a six-foot shot reaching into the night sky and a defiant finger wag to let you know it wasn't.

Not today. Not while Dikembe Mutombo was on the pitch. He blocked 3,289 shots in his career.

This week Philly Sports lost two great athletes who not only gave everything for Philly, but also everything they had.

Former Sixers center Dikembe Mutombo died after a battle with brain cancer and former Phillie Pete Rose was found dead in his home.

Mutombo came to Philadelphia in a trade with Roshown McCleod in 2001 and was named Defensive Player of the Year for the fourth time in his career. He helped lead the team to the 2001 NBA Finals with Allen Iverson and replacing an injured Theo Ratcliff. In Game 7 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, Mutombo had 23 points and eight blocked shots. In the NBA Finals, he helped the Sixers to a 1-0 lead with a victory over Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers.

In August 2002 he was traded to the New Jersey Nets.

When Pete Rose moved to Philly not far from Broad Street and the subway after joining the Phillies 45 years ago in 1979, Rose wasn't traded here in a blockbuster deal; He requested his release from the Cincinnati Reds in 1978 and signed a three-year, $3.24 million contract with the Phillies. Rose would bring America's oldest, continuous sports franchise its first World Series championship in just a hundred years. But always.

Rose earned the Phillies victory in the World Series– their first appearance on a talented Phillies team with Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton. Over the course of his MLB career, he set several MLB records that still stand today, including being a seventeen-time All-Star and an MLB record holder with 4,256 hits, 14,053 at-bats, 15,890 plate appearances and Twenty-four seasons. He played in Philadelphia until 1983.

Rose and Mutombo weren't the best players in a city that had Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Wilt Chamberlain, Ty Cobb or Ritchie Ashburn.

What they brought with them wasn't just anything. It was all they had for Philly.

PHOTO: Spinnable Sports/YouTube