NBA All-Star 2011: Lakers Legend A.C. Green Talks Justin Bieber and Video Games
The NBA All-Star Celebrity Game player passed the ball to Bieber because he wasn’t guarded
LOS ANGELES, California – Lakers Legend A.C. Green hooped it up with Hollywood stars during the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game at NBA Jam Session next to the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Green talks about playing with Justin Bieber, who was awarded the MVP of the game, and recollects on his own video game background in this exclusive video interview. Green divulges that his team kept passing to Bieber because no one was guarding him.
Green was a solid rebounder and unselfish forward who has played in more consecutive games than any other player in NBA history. He added a winning ingredient to both the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns and brought valuable leadership and experience to the rebuilding Dallas Mavericks. In 1997-98 he became the NBA's all-time leader when he surpassed Randy Smith's mark of 906 consecutive games played.
Green was a four-year star at Oregon State, 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.
The Los Angeles Lakers, fresh from winning an NBA championship, came up with a gem when they selected Green with the 23rd overall pick in the 1985 NBA Draft. Green fit ideally into the Los Angeles flow, as he did not need to have plays run for him in order to be effective He led the Lakers in rebounding for six of his eight years on the team.
In addition to providing the Lakers with constant work on the glass, his speed and willingness to run the break as a power forward helped make the team's "Showtime" offense one of the best ever. 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.
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 as well as solid rebounding for the Suns, but his playing time and contributions dipped a bit in 1995-96, although he remained the team's second-leading rebounder.
He was traded two months into the 1996-97 season to the Dallas Mavericks in the deal that brought Jason Kidd to Phoenix. He brought valuable experience and reliable rebounding to the rebuilding Mavs, leading the team off the boards in 30 of the 56 games he played in a Dallas uniform.
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About the Author
John Gaudiosi
Editor-in-Chief
John Gaudiosi has been covering videogames for the past 20 years for outlets like The Washington Post, CNET, Wired Magazine and CBS.com. He has focused on the convergence of entertainment and videogames for outlets like Video Business, Home Media Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gamerlive.TV and is also a freelance game columnist for Reuters and writes for outlets like Forbes.com, NVISION, Official PlayStation Magazine, EGM Now, Geek Monthly, PrimaGames.com, and Yahoo! Games. John also serves as the video game expert for NBC in Washington D.C. and has produced videogame documentaries for The History Channel and Starz Entertainment. John was named one of the Top 50 Game Journalists in the world by Next-Gen.biz in 2007. He is the co-author of Scholastic Books' How to Get into Videogames, Prima Publishing's Madden: Twenty Years of Videogame Football and Electronic Arts: The Official History.
