The Mark Acres Chronicles
December 21, 1987
The Boston Celtics may well operate the most perfect capitalistic state in the nation.
Boston Garden is a place where if you work you are rewarded. It is a simple system. The harder you work, the greater the reward . . . which perhaps explains how Mark Acres threw home a career-high 19 points last night in the Celtics' crushing
124-87 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Acres, the first-year man who came to Boston from Oral (no relation to Fred) Roberts University via Marien Deme of the Belgian Professional League, will never be mistaken for a scoring machine. His game involves a lunch pail, a pick and a shovel. It does not involve jump shots in any form.
"I don't think I've ever seen him take a jump shot yet," said Larry Bird after watching Acres tie him for game-high honors with a soft half-hook and a pair of fast-moving feet. "He doesn't have a lot of offensive ability, but if he gets it close to the hole he puts it in. He's active."
Last night, Acres was so active when he entered the game late in the first quarter in relief of Robert Parish that by the time he left the Sixers were passive and he had more than a passing involvement in their demise.
Coming in with the score 27-12, Acres slammed one home early as a warning shot, but it went relatively unnoticed until early in the second period when he twice beat his man up the floor and ended up with the ball in his hands.
"He was banging the boards and running the floor," said Kevin McHale. "He deserved what he got. He got out on the break a couple of times and beat his man up the floor. If you do that on this team, you usually get the ball."
And when Acres gets the ball where he feels comfortable -- which seems to be roughly 5 feet from the basket -- he puts it home.
"I usually come in when the game's a little tighter and we just try to hold the fort," Acres said. "But with the score the way it was, I was left with more opportunities and I hit the open shots. The ball ended up in my hands at the right times and I created some opportunities for myself getting up the floor on the break. But, personally, I don't come in here thinking I'll tie Larry Bird for game-high."
It is likely the Sixers didn't come to the Garden fearing such a turn of events, either, but after Acres exploded for 10 second-quarter points Philly had considerably more to fear than fear itself. It had Mark Acres to fear -- all 6 feet 11 inches of him -- on a night in which he would finish 7 of 9 from the field with 7 rebounds and 4 assists in 26 minutes.
Those numbers left Mark McNamara, Roy Hinson and Bob Thornton, the three men charged with staying somewhere within hailing distance of Acres during his second-quarter explosion, wondering who this guy 42 was. But not everyone was as shocked as they were.
"The surprise is over now," K.C. Jones said of Acres. "Mark's very solid. He's been very solid since the third or fourth game.
"Tonight he ran and banged the boards. The league is bangers now and he was banging and coming up with the ball. That's Mark's game."
But banging is one thing and banging it home is quite another, although not last night.
"I've been working with Kevin after practice on that little half-hook," Acres said. "It's just a flip shot with a little arc, but it's the one I've been going with so far. I used to have a lot more variety of shots, but with the minutes I've had I'm not too comfortable with a lot of my shots."
December 21, 1987
The Boston Celtics may well operate the most perfect capitalistic state in the nation.
Boston Garden is a place where if you work you are rewarded. It is a simple system. The harder you work, the greater the reward . . . which perhaps explains how Mark Acres threw home a career-high 19 points last night in the Celtics' crushing
124-87 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Acres, the first-year man who came to Boston from Oral (no relation to Fred) Roberts University via Marien Deme of the Belgian Professional League, will never be mistaken for a scoring machine. His game involves a lunch pail, a pick and a shovel. It does not involve jump shots in any form.
"I don't think I've ever seen him take a jump shot yet," said Larry Bird after watching Acres tie him for game-high honors with a soft half-hook and a pair of fast-moving feet. "He doesn't have a lot of offensive ability, but if he gets it close to the hole he puts it in. He's active."
Last night, Acres was so active when he entered the game late in the first quarter in relief of Robert Parish that by the time he left the Sixers were passive and he had more than a passing involvement in their demise.
Coming in with the score 27-12, Acres slammed one home early as a warning shot, but it went relatively unnoticed until early in the second period when he twice beat his man up the floor and ended up with the ball in his hands.
"He was banging the boards and running the floor," said Kevin McHale. "He deserved what he got. He got out on the break a couple of times and beat his man up the floor. If you do that on this team, you usually get the ball."
And when Acres gets the ball where he feels comfortable -- which seems to be roughly 5 feet from the basket -- he puts it home.
"I usually come in when the game's a little tighter and we just try to hold the fort," Acres said. "But with the score the way it was, I was left with more opportunities and I hit the open shots. The ball ended up in my hands at the right times and I created some opportunities for myself getting up the floor on the break. But, personally, I don't come in here thinking I'll tie Larry Bird for game-high."
It is likely the Sixers didn't come to the Garden fearing such a turn of events, either, but after Acres exploded for 10 second-quarter points Philly had considerably more to fear than fear itself. It had Mark Acres to fear -- all 6 feet 11 inches of him -- on a night in which he would finish 7 of 9 from the field with 7 rebounds and 4 assists in 26 minutes.
Those numbers left Mark McNamara, Roy Hinson and Bob Thornton, the three men charged with staying somewhere within hailing distance of Acres during his second-quarter explosion, wondering who this guy 42 was. But not everyone was as shocked as they were.
"The surprise is over now," K.C. Jones said of Acres. "Mark's very solid. He's been very solid since the third or fourth game.
"Tonight he ran and banged the boards. The league is bangers now and he was banging and coming up with the ball. That's Mark's game."
But banging is one thing and banging it home is quite another, although not last night.
"I've been working with Kevin after practice on that little half-hook," Acres said. "It's just a flip shot with a little arc, but it's the one I've been going with so far. I used to have a lot more variety of shots, but with the minutes I've had I'm not too comfortable with a lot of my shots."
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