A. C. Green

This article is about the basketball player. For the author from Texas whose surname is spelled with an additional "e", see A. C. Greene, Jr.
A. C. Green

Personal information
Born (1963-10-04) October 4, 1963
Portland, Oregon
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight 220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school Benson Polytechnic (Portland, Oregon)
College Oregon State (1981–1985)
NBA draft 1985 / Round: 1 / Pick: 23rd overall
Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers
Playing career 1985–2001
Position Power forward
Number 45
Career history
1985–1993 Los Angeles Lakers
1993–1996 Phoenix Suns
1996–1999 Dallas Mavericks
1999–2000 Los Angeles Lakers
2000–2001 Miami Heat
Career highlights and awards
Career statistics
Points 12,331 (9.6 ppg)
Rebounds 9,473 (7.4 rpg)
Steals 1,033 (0.8 spg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

A. C. Green, Jr. (born October 4, 1963) is an American retired National Basketball Association (NBA) player who played in more consecutive games than any other player in NBA and ABA history. With 1,192 straight games played, he earned the nickname "Iron Man". He played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat. He was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and attended Benson Polytechnic High School. He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. He played in 1278 out of 1281 games in his career (99.8%), with the three he missed coming in his second season, 1986–87.

Early life

Green was born in Portland, Oregon. He was given the initials "A. C." like his father, A. C. Green, Sr. The initials do not stand for anything.[1] Green converted to Christianity in the town of Hermiston, Oregon, while he was still in high school. He also never missed a class.[2]

College career

Green was a four-year star at Oregon State University, where he finished second in school history in rebounding and fourth in scoring. He was an All-Pac-10 selection as a sophomore, and as a junior he ranked fourth in the nation in field goal percentage at .657. As a senior he averaged 19.1 points and 9.2 rebounds and was named to the All-America Third Team. He was inducted into the Pac-12 Basketball Hall of Honor during the 2012 Pac-12 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, March 10, 2012.[3]

Professional career

Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers, fresh from winning an NBA championship, selected Green in the first round as the 23rd overall pick in the 1985 NBA draft.[2]

Green led the Lakers in rebounding for six of his eight years on the team. Led by Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Los Angeles captured back-to-back titles in 1987 and 1988, Green's second and third years with the squad. In the two campaigns combined, he averaged 11.1 points and 8.2 rebounds while shooting better than .500 from the field. Green also reached the NBA Finals with Los Angeles in 1989 and 1991. Green was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 1988–89, was voted a starter on the 1990 Western Conference All-Star Team and finished fourth in the league in field goal percentage in 1992–93 at .537.

Phoenix Suns

Green left the Lakers in 1993 to sign with the Phoenix Suns as a free agent. The Suns had just reached the NBA Finals, losing in six games to the Chicago Bulls, and they viewed Green as the missing piece to their championship puzzle. Green posted a career-high average of 14.7 points per game in 1993–94, but the Suns were eliminated in the conference semifinals. In 1994–95 he again contributed double-figure scoring and solid rebounding for the Suns, but his playing time and contributions dipped in 1995–96; though he remained the team's second-leading rebounder. His streak of consecutive games played almost ended during a game with the New York Knicks when J. R. Reid intentionally elbowed him in the face. Green lost two teeth and suffered a head injury but was still able to continue on with his streak by wearing a protective mask and only playing a couple of minutes a game for a few weeks.

Dallas Mavericks

Green was traded two months into the 1996–97 season to the Dallas Mavericks in the deal that brought Jason Kidd to Phoenix. He brought reliable rebounding to the rebuilding Mavs. He tied Shawn Bradley for the team lead in rebounding in 1997–98 with 8.1 rpg, but his season highlight came on November 20 against Golden State when he played in his 907th consecutive game, becoming the league's all-time iron man, surpassing Randy Smith's mark of 906 consecutive games played.[4]

Green played in his 1,000th consecutive game on March 13, 1999 against Vancouver, and finished the 1998–99 season at 1,028 in a row and counting. After 14 seasons in the league, Green had missed only three games, all during the 1986–87 season (his second in the league).

Late career

Green returned to the Los Angeles Lakers for the 1999–2000 season where he won his last NBA championship with the Lakers by defeating the resilient Sacramento Kings in five games in the first round, his former team the Phoenix Suns also in five games in the second round and finally the talented Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals en rote to defeating the Indiana Pacers in six games to win the series and the Championship. He played his final season with the Miami Heat where he was reunited with Pat Riley. The Heat made the playoffs, where they were swept 3-0 by the Charlotte Hornets.

Iron man streak

Green's consecutive games played streak began on November 19, 1986, when the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio. The streak ended with the last game of his career on April 18, 2001 when the Miami Heat defeated the Orlando Magic in Orlando.

Personal life

Green is known as deeply religious and is well known for proclaiming that he began and ended his NBA career as a virgin. During his playing days, his teammates would frequently send women to tempt him to compromise his morals. Green would respond by calmly quoting scripture.[5] He runs youth camps through his A.C. Green Youth Foundation promoting abstinence until marriage.[6] In 2000, he wore a green bear on his head while on the bench during basketball games to promote his foundation.[7] Green married his wife Veronique on April 20, 2002.[8]

Green suffered from singultus, or chronic hiccups, during his NBA career, the hiccups only stopping when Green was running or working out. Reportedly, Green never slept more than two hours at a time due to the condition. He has since recovered.[9] In 2011, he was awarded the Bobby Jones Award by Athletes in Action for character, leadership, and faith in the world of basketball, in the home and the community.[10]

In 2015, Green was a judge for the 2015 Boost Mobile NBA D-League Slam Dunk Contest.[11]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
† NBA Championship

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1985–86 L.A. Lakers 82 1 18.8 .539 .167 .611 4.6 .7 .6 .6 6.4
1986–87† L.A. Lakers 79 72 28.4 .538 .000 .780 7.8 1.1 .9 1.0 10.8
1987–88† L.A. Lakers 82 64 32.1 .503 .000 .773 8.7 1.1 1.1 .5 11.4
1988–89 L.A. Lakers 82 82 30.6 .529 .235 .786 9.0 1.3 1.1 .7 13.3
1989–90 L.A. Lakers 82 82 33.0 .478 .283 .751 8.7 1.1 .8 .6 12.9
1990–91 L.A. Lakers 82 21 26.4 .476 .200 .738 6.3 .9 .7 .3 9.1
1991–92 L.A. Lakers 82 53 35.4 .476 .214 .744 9.3 1.4 1.1 .4 13.6
1992–93 L.A. Lakers 82 55 34.4 .537 .348 .739 8.7 1.4 1.1 .5 12.8
1993–94 Phoenix 82 55 34.5 .502 .229 .735 9.2 1.7 .9 .5 14.7
1994–95 Phoenix 82 52 32.8 .504 .339 .732 8.2 1.5 .7 .4 11.2
1995–96 Phoenix 82 36 25.8 .484 .269 .709 6.8 .9 .5 .3 7.5
1996–97 Phoenix / Dallas 83[a] 73 30.0 .483 .050 .650 7.9 .8 .8 .2 7.2
1997–98 Dallas 82 68 32.3 .453 .000 .716 8.1 1.5 1.0 .3 7.3
1998–99 Dallas 50 35 18.5 .422 .000 .577 4.6 .5 .6 .2 4.9
1999–2000† L.A. Lakers 82 82 23.5 .447 .250 .695 5.9 1.0 .6 .2 5.0
2000–01 Miami 82 1 17.2 .444 .000 .712 3.8 .5 .4 .1 4.5
All-Star 1 1 12.0 .000 .000 .000 3.0 1.0 .0 1.0 .0
Career 1,278 832 28.6 .494 .254 .734 7.4 1.1 .8 .4 9.6

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1986 L.A. Lakers 9 – 11.8 .529 – .444 1.8 .0 .1 .3 2.4
1987† L.A. Lakers 18 – 28.1 .546 – .747 7.9 .6 .5 .4 11.5
1988† L.A. Lakers 24 – 30.3 .544 – .753 7.3 .8 .5 .5 10.0
1989 L.A. Lakers 15 – 33.5 .412 .000 .763 9.1 1.2 1.1 .4 10.1
1990 L.A. Lakers 9 – 28.0 .519 – .750 9.0 1.0 .6 .4 11.8
1991 L.A. Lakers 19 1 21.1 .423 .500 .704 5.4 .5 .6 .2 6.5
1992 L.A. Lakers 4 4 38.3 .410 – .826 9.0 1.8 1.8 .0 12.8
1993 L.A. Lakers 5 5 44.0 .429 .000 .619 14.6 2.6 1.4 .6 9.8
1994 Phoenix 10 2 35.0 .482 .412 .613 8.4 1.3 1.0 .2 12.5
1995 Phoenix 10 10 36.8 .462 .083 .873 12.0 1.3 .6 .2 12.8
1996 Phoenix 4 4 21.8 .353 .000 .875 4.5 .5 .3 .0 4.8
2000† L.A. Lakers 23 23 18.7 .411 – .696 4.2 .6 1.6 .1 3.9
2001 Miami 3 0 7.0 .333 – 1.000 1.3 .7 .3 .0 1.0
Career 153 – 26.9 .475 .250 .739 7.1 .8 .7 .3 8.6

See also

References

  1. ↑ Downey, Mike (December 21, 1987). "Rebounds, Praise--A.C. Green Seems to Get More and More". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 27, 2013.
  2. 1 2 "AC Green, Main Man of the Month". SacredHoops.com. 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-09-25. Retrieved 2006-12-10.
  3. ↑ 2011-12 Hall of Honor Class Announced, Pac-12 Conference, February 7, 2012
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ "A.c. Green". CNN. July 14, 2008. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
  6. ↑ "AC Green Youth Foundation". acgreen.com. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  7. ↑ Plaschke, Bill (May 20, 2000). "Sex-Free A.C. Just Grins, Bears It". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 17, 2013.
  8. ↑ Eggers, Kerry (June 25, 2002). "Green without envy". The Portland Tribune. Archived from the original on April 17, 2013.
  9. ↑ ESPN Page, "Back in My Day..."
  10. ↑ "Highlights from the 2011 All-Star Breakfast". http://allstarbreakfast.com/. May 1, 2011. Archived from the original on April 17, 2013. External link in |work= (help)
  11. ↑ http://dleague.nba.com/news/jarvis-threatt-wins-2015-boost-mobile-slam-dunk-contest/ Jarvis Threatt Wins Boost Mobile Slam Dunk Contest

External links

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