The Mark Acres Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Friday, May 6th, 2005
Signing with the Celtics presented an interesting problem – you were able to
learn from Hall-of-Fame talent like Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale and
Bill Walton, but you also had to compete with them for playing time. Please
take me back to your first training camp. With Walton and McHale injured, did
you like your chances of making the team?
Yes
I did – I liked my chances very much. And that was one of the reasons I left
Dallas to play in Europe, because they had my rights for two years. They had
three first round draft picks in 1985, and they selected three big men with
them. It quickly became a numbers game there, and I really didn’t see myself
fitting into that equation. With the Boston Celtics there was a real
opportunity, and it was the first time that I’d been able to stick it out and
make it through all of the camps, including veteran camp. I’d never went to
veteran camp in Dallas. I’d always left early to go to Europe. So it was an
exciting challenge. It was also a physical and mental drain, because you’d just
go out and play, play, play. You just kept going. And as a young player trying
to make the team, you just want to do your best and try not to leave anything
off the court.
The
Celtics played the McDonald's Tournament in Madrid, Spain. What memories
stand out about that trip after all these years?
Well
that was still when no foreign team had beaten a team comprised of NBA
players. And when you have that, there is always a lot of pressure on your
shoulders. It doesn’t matter whether the game is considered a preseason
matchup or not, you feel as though you have a standard to uphold when you
step out on that court. You want to do your best, and you want to make sure
that you’re not the ones who end up being the answer to a trivia question
[laughs]. We went in there, and there was good competition. We had to play
hard to win. We did win. I just remember getting police escorts to the
arena and to the hotel. It was almost a rock star atmosphere. It was quite
a show.
Larry
Bird averaged a career-high 29.9 points-per-game during the 1987-88 season.
What was it like trying to guard him in practice?
Always
a challenge [laughs]. He was a fantastic scorer, and a great basketball
player. It was always a challenge to see if you could get a hand on the
ball, or deny him a pass, or just keep the ball out of his hand. Larry was
an unbelievable player.
The 1988
Eastern Conference Semifinals produced one of the most memorable games in
NBA history – the shootout between Larry Bird and Dominique Wilkins. Please
take me back that series in general, and that game in particular.
The
series in general came down to Game 6 in Atlanta, with the Hawks up 3-2 and
having a chance to close us out on their home floor. It didn’t happen. We
played big in a hostile environment, and we were able to steal the game and
even the series. That put the make-or-break game back in Boston. Larry was
talking quite a bit after Game 6. He said, ‘The Hawks had their chance and
they blew it. They had their chance to close us out and they choked. Now
we’re going back to the Boston Garden and we’re going to show them how to
close out a series.’ It was all over the news. And then we went back to
Boston for Game 7, and he and Wilkins were just going at it. That one half
was just unbelievable. Basket-for-basket, shot-for-shot, those two guys
just couldn’t miss. It was almost like they were playing one-on-one at the
local playground, and there was no one else on the court. It was
unbelievable. After the game I walked up to Larry and asked, ‘Is that the
greatest half of basketball you’ve ever played in your life?’ He just
looked at me and smiled, and then he simply said ‘Yep.’
