These two heavyweights had quite the battles way back when.
The 2000s was a good time to be a big—if you were up to it.
One game you’ll be up against prime Eric Menk. The next game you’ll be up against prime Asi Taulava. Then you’d be facing Danny Ildefonso. And the list goes on and on.
That list included bruisers like Dorian Peña and Ali Peek, whose battles were highly physical to say the least—just two legitimate heavyweights going at it and leaving it all out on the hardwood.
But while those battles routinely got rough, the bigs of that era seemed to get it: The grabbing and the holding and the pushing and shoving were nothing personal. It was purely business, and that’s probably why there was little to no animosity between the big men of that time. Quite a few, in fact, have forged quite the brotherhood.
Peña and Peek are a case in point.
On Monday, the Man Mountain shared on Instagram the perfect “throwback” describing what it was like every time he and The Junkyard Dog played each other.
The Instagram Story shows an old video of former NBA players and good friends Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell getting contentious and seemingly about to get into a fight—before each realized who was who, leading to the infamously hot-tempered Garnett to give Cassell an embrace, and a few pecks on his former teammate’s dome.
Peek’s caption, where he also tagged Peña, gave insight to the two’s friendship.
“@dorian4reelz versus @34peeks,” says part of the caption. “Every time we played each other, I have no enemies.”
Peña, of course, shared in his own Instagram the same Story—just to prove Peek’s point.
Just don't let this lighthearted moment fool you. When Peña and Peek stepped on the floor, they most definitely went all out.
(GM)