As part of its 60 Days of Summer promotion, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame brought in former Miami Heat center Alonzo Mourning on Monday, July 28. Mourning — who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Friday, August 8 — spoke to a large group of fans and children, describing his career, his battle with kidney disease and more. He talked to MassLive after the event.

MassLive: You were known for challenging every dunk attempt. Why was that such a point of focus for you?

Alonzo Mourning: Well it was ingrained in me. It became instinctual. Once I started competing, I knew I could have tremendous impact on the game by making it difficult for other people to score, plain and simple. That's what kind of fueled my overall impact on the game, because I knew if the ball wasn't going through the hoop for me, I knew I could still help the team win. I could rebound. I could defend. I could change the game from that perspective. That was a big part of why I wasn't known as just a one-dimensional player.

MassLive: It was pretty obvious that you took help defense very seriously.

Mourning: When you think about help defense and you think about the reason teams are successful, it's because they are able to stop other teams collectively. The two things, one of those things is about trust. Being a part of the team, where every guy on the floor is going to trust that when I leave, I don't even have to think about it. I know someone is going to be there to have my back. It's a beautiful thing to watch when a team is playing that way. It has a tremendous impact on the outcome of the game because it's very difficult to stop a team that trusts one another. Very difficult. You're going to leave the furthest man away open. Now it's going to take a great passing team to find that open man, because we've got all the other more logical passes covered. We leaving the furthest man away open. Between time and distance, we can cover that pass. It just comes down to that. The best teams I've ever been a part of, they did just that, they trusted that.

MassLive: So it wasn't about individual defense, it was more about being a part of the whole?

Mourning: No doubt. You got some guys who are known as great individual defenders, like Bruce Bowen and Ron Artest, but then you got Magic Johnson, who was a terrible on-ball defender. He’ll tell you that today. “I wasn’t a great defender, but I was a great team defender.” When the Lakers won those championships, collectively they were great team defenders. Guys had to help. They had to cover spaces. There were holes in the defense, and you had to cover those holes. Ultimately, the ball wants to get to the middle of the paint. Once it gets there, the paint collapses. Someone has to cover the paint. When it collapses, that’s when the ball sprays out to the shooters. So it’s a matter of keeping the ball from the paint, and forcing lower percentage shots.

MassLive: You were known for playing with a lot of passion. Was it kind of cathartic to leave so much emotion out on the floor?

Mourning: You know what? I didn't want to waste anybody's time when I was out there, let alone mine, so the one thing I did was try to play every game like it was my last. Once I experienced the whole situation with kidney disease, it was a situation where I felt like when I came back, each game could be last game. It literally could be my last game. So, when I came back and played again, I played literally each game like it was my last.

MassLive: When you got sick, you must have been glad you were playing that hard up until that point.

Mourning: Very much so. No doubt. That was one of the things that motivated me, knowing that every day wasn't promised me. I don't know when this is going to end, so I had to seize the moment now.

MassLive: The battles between you and Patrick Ewing kind of defined an era of big men. Is that gratifying now?

Mourning: It was (gratifying). It's unfortunate that we're like dinosaurs now. We're kind of extinct. There aren't as many quality big men as there were back then. You got more of these big men who are perimeter-oriented. It's not the way the game is being taught now. These kids are developing their shooting skills. Guys are shooting the ball better. The physical contact is still there, but it's not as prevalent as it was. Back then, it was extremely physical. I played in that era, and it was something that fueled me, just the physical play. I had the body and the physical approach to the game, so it was perfect for my game. Now, you can't touch anybody. They blow the whistle on everything, so it makes it kind of difficult from that perspective.

But the game has grown, and I’m happy to have been a part of the growth of the game, to have helped contribute to it in some type a way. David Stern has done an amazing job. It’s kind of ironic that I’m going into the hall with David, because back in 1992, I was standing onstage with him shaking his hand. When you think about his 30 years, how he’s grown the game globally, the decisions he’s made, I’m just happy to have been a part of the process.

MassLive: At your jersey retirement, Udonis Haslem gave you a commemorative dumbbell. Do you still have that?

Mourning: I still have that. It's actually sitting in my office.

MassLive: Was that the best trophy you've ever received?

Mourning: (Laughs) You know what, one of them. When he handed me that trophy, the weight, it had my name engraved, it was pretty cool. Then they actually named the weight room after me because I spent so much time in there. That was pretty cool.

