Nothing noteworthy about this performance. At this point in time, it is already well known that a legitimate 7 foot center with offensive skills can expose Dwight Howard as pedestrian.
Alonzo never really developed the 15 footer until later in his career I think. He was also decently athletic and quick, Dwight more so, although Zo played with more intensity which makes up for it somewhat. For his prime his offensive game was basically inside, dunks, layups and short hook shots, and his defense was great. Kind of like Dwight. The comparison is not perfect admittedly but it's better than comparing Dwight to Moses Malone, who had much more offensive skill, or Shaq or Wilt Chamberlain, for which the comparison has been drawn and which is quite laughable.
Dwight Howard is a 90s version of Dale Davis. He's only producing the numbers he's producing because of the Era. I mean, just go compare the type of big men Davis had to face and the type Howard currently has to face.
If Howard played in the late 80's and early 90's against the big men of that era, he would just be a rebounding role player.
Alonzo Mourning was somewhat more complete center than Dwight Howard. He had a little more variety in his offensive moves (spin move and hook shot) and better jump shot (in his Miami years)with I dare say better defense. Mourning was not nearly as offensively limited as Dwight Howard. If Alonzo Mourning (93-00) was in the league right now, he'd probably be the best center by mile (if Yao is injured). Mourning might embarrass Dwight Howard.
Basically. He's not that good and I've been saying that for a while. Most of Dwight numbers solely rely on playing against Big men he can clearly over-power.
Also, consider that Howard's and Mourning's numbers are fairly similar (though Mourning's numbers at better in few catergoies), while one player played in the toughest for opposing centers vs. the other who is playing in one of the weakest.
It's funny, because Stan Van Gundy said Howard was a better defender than Mourning. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-orlando-magic-notes-1222-20091221,0,102273.story Talk about Ignorant.
That's one opinion, also he never brought up one on one defense. I'd like to see someone try to argue that. There's no way Howard is a better one-on-one defender (esp. against quality centers) than Mourning is.
I agree, I remember in the Finals last season, Jeff Van Gundy said Gortat was the better individual defender than Dwight and I agree with that. In Yao vs Dwight debates, people think Yao has all the advantages on offense and Dwight has all the advantages on defense when that's false. Because Yao is the much better individual defender than Dwight.
If you want to overrate Dwight's potential, Moses Malone would be a good one. Moses was the complete epitome of a blue collared player, he really was that good. Of course he had one of the greatest drop steps of all-time as well. Dwight? I'd like to see him get one post move at the very least. I really find it laughable when people compared him to Shaq and I still do. Shaq wasn't useless when he was outside of the paint because he was fairly capable of banging his way down there and getting in there and he was willing to re-post himself.
Steroids. But it is funny though. In his rookie season, he shot 70% from the line and now he's shooting 60%. I find it odd how someone could manage to become a worse FT shooter despite working harder at it.
