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Monday, January 29, 2001
Van Exel plays 38 minutes on bad foot



DENVER -- Two days after rupturing a tendon in his right foot, Denver Nuggets point guard Nick Van Exel was back on the court Monday night against the Utah Jazz.

Nick Van Exel
Van Exel

Van Exel, who averages 17.8 points and 8.4 assists per game, ruptured the plantar fascia tendon Saturday night against the Dallas Mavericks. The tendon runs along the bottom of the foot.

After spending two days in a cast, Van Exel did not expect to play against the Jazz but he scored 21 points with eight assists and seven rebounds in Denver's 97-91 loss to Utah. The Nuggets had won nine straight at home.

"I figured if I go out and play, I've just got to get used to the pain because eventually I'm going to have to play with it hurting," he said. "It really didn't hurt me that bad."

Normally dangerous from the outside, Van Exel missed nine of his first 10 shots before hitting 7 of 9 while trying to bring Denver back in the fourth quarter.

"I figured I wouldn't go out there and hurt the team," he said. "Unfortunately, my shot wasn't falling there in that third quarter, and they got a big lead on us, but it definitely wasn't because of the foot."

With Van Exel still limping, the Nuggets signed guard Anthony Goldwire to a 10-day contract, waived center Garth Joseph and placed guard Calbert Cheaney on the injured list.

Van Exel worked out with Goldwire before the game and showed no sign of a limp as he walked through the Denver dressing room.

"He refused to go on the IL because he thinks he can play pretty quickly," Denver coach Dan Issel said. "The doctors have told him he can't do any more damage. As soon as he can play with the pain, he's going to try to play. I imagine it will be sooner rather than later."

In addition to Van Exel, the Nuggets were without starting center Raef LaFrentz, who did not suit up for the second straight game because of a sprained right ankle. He injured the ankle last Thursday at Utah.

"His turned ankle is on the opposite leg of his knee surgery (in 1999), so we don't want it to be in a position where he's trying to get off of that bad ankle and putting more pressure on the knee," Issel said.

Goldwire, who played 109 games for Denver from 1997-98, was with the Nuggets during training camp but was waived Oct. 25. He averaged 20.6 points and 4.9 assists in 14 games for the Kansas City Kings of the American Basketball Association.

"When I came in, everybody was excited to see me back," Goldwire said. "That's got to make a player feel welcome versus going to a team that he hasn't played for. Just to have them coming downstairs making jokes about you, that gives you extra confidence."

To make room for Goldwire, Cheaney went on the injured list with a strained left hamstring. Joseph had been on the injured list with a groin strain.



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