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The Hall of Fame inductions of major Celtics contributors Jo Jo White and Tom Heinsohn prompted fellow Hall member Dave Cowens to reflect on his career with the Celtics, or rather the end of it. Cowens is considered an all-time great Celtic, but he had a different way of thinking.

He took a two-month sabbatical during the 1976-77 season, something that did not exactly thrill Heinsohn, and he retired for the first time at age 31, after playing his final season with the Celtics in 1979-80 with a rookie named Larry Bird. Cowens offered an explanation for his sudden retirement.

“I had played basketball all year long,” said Cowens, who scored 13,192 points with the Celtics. “With the team, with my basketball camps, I was doing stuff all summer long, so I really didn’t have a break. I probably made a mistake of doing too much in the offseason and I just really ran out of juice is really kind of what it was.”

[…]

Cowens’s final year with the Celtics was played alongside Bird. Cowens was the team’s No. 4 scorer that season behind Bird, Nate Archibald, and Cedric Maxwell. It was a unique experience.

“He played with me, because he was a rookie and I was a cagy vet,” Cowens joked of Bird. “I watched him play a little bit in college and when we started practicing, you could tell the guy was a dedicated individual with some extremely rare skills in terms of being a smart player, ahead of the game, great hands, great first move, a knockdown, drag-out kind of a shooter. You knew you couldn’t shake that guy, he was tough-minded.

Boston Globe – Sunday Basketball Notes

Dave Cowens was present this weekend in Springfield, as two Celtic greats who helped define the Celtics of the 70s (one as player, the other as coach) were enshrined in Basketball’s Mecca. Washburn highlights the abrupt end to Cowens’ tenure as a Celtic, which coincided with the start of Larry Bird’s career.

Cowens’ offered some cool memories about a burgeoning superstar and also let it be known that the 70s Celtics deserve a little more adoration from the history books. 

“The thing that bothers me the most when they forget about those teams, it’s not bragging or anything. They start rating teams, they don’t tip their hat toward us,” Cowens said. “Knowing what we did, any of Bird’s teams, any of the Laker teams, any of the Bulls, if they had play against us [they would have a tough time], because we didn’t have too many chinks in the armor, we weren’t big but we knew how to move people around, we were a pretty smart team. When you only lose 14 games one year [in 1972-73], that was pretty good. I thought we showed the world we were a pretty good team.”

As a Celtic fan under 30, I learned about my Celtics history through my dad, my immigrant grandmother (who knew little English when she arrived in 1947, but immediately immersed herself into the “Soltics” as she called them) and any NBA VHS tapes and library books I could find. It’s true, outside of the 1976 NBA Finals and Dave Cowens diving for a loose ball in ’74 against the bucks, I knew nothing of the 70s Celtics.

It clearly still bugs Cowens that those teams don’t get their due. Couple that with his unsanctimonious ending in green and you have to wonder how he feels about the franchise and the city:

“That was fun, the fans were great,” Cowens said. “I have to say the Boston fans, I had a great relationship with them and I’m sure some of them were wondering what the heck’s wrong with me. But I think they enjoyed my style and I enjoyed playing for them.”

Overall, it was a great weekend to honor the entire history of the Celtics, but specifically, some underrated championship squads from the 70s.

The Rest of the Links: 

CSNNE: Three players who will lead the Celtics defensively