5.03.2019

The Cowens’ Toe Situation

The Cowens’ Toe Situation

March 27, 1980

CELTICS NOTEBOOK

The news from the medical front is not good.

Dave Cowens suffered another hyperextension of the left big toe with just about eight minutes to play in the game last night, and he sat our the rest of the game. "It's a reccurrence of the original injury," said team physician Thomas Silva, "but I don't believe it's as serious as the first one." At any rate, Cowens and the doctor will know more this morning, once they see how much swelling has occurred.


Larry Bird now has very deep, monstrous burise on his right thigh after being dumped into the basket support by Tony Knight in the first quarter while angling in from the left side on a fast break. He went to the locker room to have it bandaged, and later in the game he was limping. Cedric Maxwell is still having trouble with his sprained ankle. He passed up at least three chances for dunks in last night's game, and there were some long rebounds that tantalized him since he couldn't cut fast enough to grab them. Tiny Archibald has been sick these last couple of days, and so all he's managed to do is score 39 points and hand out 34 assist, neatly divided in 17-17 fashion. Whatever he's got, the others should consider contracting it . . . The Celtics must submit a list of 11 names to the league office by midnight on Sunday to set their roster for the playoffs. There is no such thing as an injured list in the playoffs. Anyone not on the playoff roster will be on the inactive list. Only in extreme cases of emergency (such as the devastation of the Portland team two years ago) can someone be added to the team's roster during the playoffs.

Don Chaney cannot play either Friday or Sunday because he is on the injured list with a groin pull. Should he not be included on the playoff roster it will mean that we have seen the last of this classy man, who graced the Celtic uniform as much as anyone who ever wore it. Some public display of appreciation and gratitude on his behalf is surely warranted . . . And speaking of classy gentlemen, how about Earl Monroe, who scored 25 points in just 15 minutes last night, looking all the while as if he were 23 years old again. Should the Celtics not face the Knicks along the playoff trail, we have also undoubtedly seen the last of him in the Boston Garden . . . Game officials Hue Hollins and Ed Middleton started off giving the Celtics the benefit of every doubt, but once the Celtics got ahead by 16 points (41-25) they began to get the Knicks back into the game. And during the second half, nobody could be sure of anything when the whistle blew. It was certainly no way for the Celtics to battle for a championship or the Knicks to scrap for a playoff spot.

The coin flip to determine the No. 1 spot in the 1980 college draft, and indeed all other draft spots that may need clarifying, will be held next Tuesday in New York . . . The Celtics have now won 60 games for the first time since the 1974-75 season, and should they win 61, they would equal the combined victory total of 1977-78 (32) and 1978-79 (29) . . . They have accomplished the first 30-game increase in victories in league history . . . Rick Robey on the sensational play of Tiny Archibald: "He wants it. You can see it in his eyes. He knows the only way for us to win is for him to set us up, and he's playing his best ball of the season."

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