Yao’s Five Toughest Matchups: Al Harrington (No. 4)
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
by Ren
4.) Al Harrington (GSW) | 6-9, 250 lbs | 10 yrs pro
Head-to-head ’07-’08*
AH: 16.5 ppg, .439 FG%, .409 3FG%, 8.3 rpg
YM: 20.7 ppg, .487 FG%, 11.7 rpg, 2.3 bpg
*Harrington played one more game than Yao in ’08 but NBA.com’s Game Logs is not working at the moment so stats were taken from Game Splits.
DIAGNOSIS: When you look at the numbers, they’re not too shabby, 20 and 10, can’t ask for more, but when you consider Yao’s considerable size advantage up and down the roster, the fact that Yao doesn’t always completely dominate the Warriors is why Harrington makes the list.
Richard Justice has a nice story on Joey Dorsey and how he “has given Yao Ming fits in practice.” As Justice observes, Yao dominates true bigs, it’s the smaller, more athletic post players who have sometimes done better against him. Al Harrington falls into that category but not so much with Dorsey’s Ben Wallace-like physique and athleticism but with his versatility. Harrington is strong enough to make Yao work to get position on the low-block and fast enough to beat him down court in transition.
4.) Al Harrington (GSW) | 6-9, 250 lbs | 10 yrs pro
Head-to-head ’07-’08*
AH: 16.5 ppg, .439 FG%, .409 3FG%, 8.3 rpg
YM: 20.7 ppg, .487 FG%, 11.7 rpg, 2.3 bpg
*Harrington played one more game than Yao in ’08 but NBA.com’s Game Logs is not working at the moment so stats were taken from Game Splits.
DIAGNOSIS: When you look at the numbers, they’re not too shabby, 20 and 10, can’t ask for more, but when you consider Yao’s considerable size advantage up and down the roster, the fact that Yao doesn’t always completely dominate the Warriors is why Harrington makes the list.
Richard Justice has a nice story on Joey Dorsey and how he “has given Yao Ming fits in practice.” As Justice observes, Yao dominates true bigs, it’s the smaller, more athletic post players who have sometimes done better against him. Al Harrington falls into that category but not so much with Dorsey’s Ben Wallace-like physique and athleticism but with his versatility. Harrington is strong enough to make Yao work to get position on the low-block and fast enough to beat him down court in transition.