Dave Cowens – From Way Downtown

Red Auerbach: The Aborted Interview, 1978

oday, people are playing ball with one eye looking up at dollar signs. They figure they cannot make it by playing defense and by being a sacrificing team player.

They Laughed When Tom Heinsohn Sat Down to Coach, 1975

Heinsohn absorbed his knowledge of coaching from Red Auerbach. His insights into people, he acquired from personal, and sometimes painful, experience.

Dave Cowens Doesn’t Play Hard . . . He Kills Himself, 1973

For Cowens, the future in basketball seems unclouded. Outside of basketball, the future is—so far—simply uninteresting. Money does not appear to be the most-important thing in his life.

Dave Cowens: Farewell John Havlicek, 1978

People ask me who will replace John Havlicek this year. I tell them there will be another name on the roster, but that nobody will replace him—ever.

Boston Celtics: Something Old, Something New, 1981

Brown’s acquisition of the NBA‘s most-celebrated franchise was viewed from the start as a damnable irony. His meddlesome ways were strange to Chaney, who spent nine of his 11 pro seasons in the Celtic backcourt, and even stranger to Red Auerbach.

The Fabulous Fifth, 1976

What do you say after you’ve seen the greatest game of professional basketball ever played? That there should’ve been two winners?

Kevin Porter: The Game I’ll Never Forget, 1979

I was happy, too. Of course, I had reason to be happy. Having a game with a total productivity of 80 points doesn’t happen very often.

Rick Robey: The Ultimate Backup Center, 1982

Adjustment to the life of a sub requires a subjugation, not abandonment, of ambition, and it appears that Robey has acquired the perfect professional attitude.

Paul Silas: He Doesn’t Leave Fingerprints, 1972

“All of us in the league play with a part of a comradeship. This is our living. This is what we do. It doesn’t make sense to go out and get mad. This is a job. But you can be fierce.”

John Havlicek: A Farewell to Remember, 1978

“My suggestion,” said Dave Cowens, the Celtic’s center for the past eight years, “is that they retire his number from the league. Don’t let anyone wear No. 17 again. That’s how much I think John’s meant to the NBA. Just take 17 and stash it up there in lights.”