In only his fourth NBA season, A.C. Green has become the Los Angeles Lakers’ leading rebounder. Although small for a power forward, A.C. is an iron man in the lane. He has endured on some of the toughest turf in sports, appearing in every regular season contest but three during his first three campaigns. A.C. (whose initials stand for the letters A and C) talks with Kyle Rote Jr. about crashing the boards with the big boys.

KYLE: Let’s talk about the toughness of the game itself. A lot of people have believed for many years that playing basketball in the NBA is physically the toughest of any of the professional sports.

A.C.: That’s true in that it’s really demanding on your body. And it’s pretty obvious to anyone who might watch. They get to see the banging and the bumping that goes on. You’re setting screens, and you get little guards trying to muscle you for the position, and then you get big guys trying to muscle you for position. It’s really tough in that sense.

After nearly every game I go home with some little souvenir here or there that I didn’t have before the game started. (Laughing) It’s very seldom that I don’t leave the court or the gym feeling a little sore from the physical contact…

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