Yao’s 5 Toughest Match-ups: Dwight Howard (No. 3)
October 16th, 2008by Ren
Dwight Howard (ORL) | 6-11, 265 lbs | 4 yrs pro
Head-to-head ’07-’08
DH: 18.5 ppg, .500 FG%, 9.5 rpg, 5.5 fpg
YM: 22.5 ppg, .472 FG%, 13.5 rpg, 3.5 fpg
DIAGNOSIS: You may be wondering why DH only comes in at no. 3, especially considering most NBA analysts and bloggers have put Howard as the no. 1 center in the NBA now. It’s mostly because Orlando is one of the few teams that will let their center try to match-up one-on-one with Yao and Yao has had some of his best games against Howard. Like most centers in Howard’s mold, Yao is just too big for him.
When healthy, Yao really hasn’t been contained in the last two years one-on-one by anyone in the league. With the arrival of a rookie center with true center size and uncommon explosiveness (and who frighteningly resembles a young Shaquille O’Neal) in Greg Oden and the evolution of Andrew Bynum, that might soon change, but for now, if teams want to single up on Yao, it means they’re satisfied with letting him get his.
For Howard, that’s proven to be a humbling experience for the most part but DH is a humble guy and has a great deal of respect for Yao. Almost too much, if you’re a Magic fan. Howard doesn’t seem to take enough advantage of his considerable advantage in mobility on defense and seems to try to beat Yao in the low-post with his strength. As strong as Howard clearly is, a 45 lb weight advantage just wears you down. But credit Howard for never playing dirty and taking his lumps with pride. And in that, he may not only be (arguably) the best new center in the league but like Yao, also one of the best sportsmen.
PROGNOSIS: Orlando will let Howard single-up on Yao again this season and will double when needed. With the Rockets new line-up, the Magic can’t be too satisfied with just letting Yao get his numbers because they won’t be able to double T-Mac with Ron-Ron around to limit his production. But then again, they’ll only play them twice anyway so the implications of the match-ups has less to do with standings or the playoffs than with the “best center in the league” hype. Both match-ups last season were just too entertaining to leave this match-up off the list.