Mike Szostak: Parquet Heroes Lead Farewell

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Parquet heroes lead farewell

BOSTON -- When it comes to relics in this town's sports shrines, there
are
two.

The Green Monster and the parquet floor.

Last night, Boston bid adieu to the parquet.

That unique stage, woven in East Boston from scraps of Tennessee oak,
served as the sturdy platform on which the Boston Celtics performed
their
basketball artistry for 53 years. It's being scrapped for a new model
that will
make its debut Jan. 3, when the Cleveland Cavaliers visit.

Scrapped is a poor choice of words. You can be certain pieces of the
parquet will packaged as souvenirs, much as shards of tin from The Green

Monster were made into paperweights after the 1975 World Series and sold

to fans to benefit the Jimmy Fund.

Other panels will be integrated into the new floor, which was built in
Chicago.

Fortunately for the traditionalists who still rue the razing of the old
Boston
Garden, the new playing surface will also be a parquet design with a
leprechaun painted in the middle. As if FleetCenter and Celtics
executives
had much choice. Laying anything but parquet down for the Celtics would
be
folly, akin to installing Astroturf in a new Fenway Park.

Last night, the current Celts gave the old boards a rousing sendoff by
dominating the listless Atlanta Hawks, 98-81.

But it fell to five former Celtics, Hall of Famers one and all, to
provide the
evening's memories, sentiment and emotion for the 15,973 fans on hand
for
this farewell party. Tom Heinsohn, Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, John
Havlicek
and K.C. Jones did just that, which was hardly a surprise. The Celtics
are
one of the most tradition-rich franchises in professional sport, and
when it's
time to stand on ceremony, they can do it with the best.

Mike Gorman, the Celtics television voice who grew up in Dorchester and
was in the second balcony the day Havlicek stole the ball, emceed this
special halftime ceremony. As Celtics promotions types positioned
shamrocks about the parquet, Gorman explained that the player benches
were switched in the move to the FleetCenter and are diagonally opposite

their positions in the Boston Garden.

So when Russell described how he was the one to try to put the ball in
play
with the Celtics protecting a 110-109 lead in Game 7 of the 1965 Eastern

Division finals against Philadelphia, he was standing near fans, not the

Boston bench.

Russell recalled how his inbounds pass hit the guy wire, giving
possession
to the then Warriors, and how ``what happened next made a hero of John
Havlicek.''

As every Celtics fan knows, Havlicek tipped Hal Greer's pass, a play
broadcaster Johnny Most immortalized with his screaming call: ``Havlicek

stole the ball!''

Russell even tried to imitate Most's voice last night.

Heinsohn, the 1957 rookie of the year, recalled Game 7 of the finals
against
the St. Louis Hawks. Russell had just missed a layup, his momentum
carrying him beyond the baseline, and a long outlet pass sent the ball
to the
Hawks' Jack Coleman beyond midcourt. Coleman dribbled once ``and was
going to win the game with a layup, and Russell blocked the shot,''
Heinsohn said.

``He went faster -- of course, this involved money, and that's why he
went so
fast -- but he went faster than they could make one pass and a dribble.
He
ran more than the length of the court. I still maintain it's the
greatest play I've
ever seen in basketball,'' Heinsohn said.

That might have been the beginning of the parquet as one of the
signature
venues in sport.

Cousy remembered March 17, 1963, when he stood at midcourt and wept
openly as a capacity crowd of 13,909 honored him upon his retirement. He

spoke of ``50 years of an emotional relationship with the City of
Boston, the
fans and even the media . . . this floor was part of all of this.''

Havlicek relived his incredible bank shot that apparently won Game 5 on
the
1976 Finals against Phoenix in double overtime. He was the third option
after Jo Jo White and Dave Cowens, and when Don Nelson had trouble
putting the ball in play, Havlicek sprinted above the circle, caught the
pass,
tried to draw a foul and finally, elbows flailing, launched a line drive
off the
glass and in.

As fans stormed the parquet and players fought their way to the dressing

room, referee Earl Strom blew his whistle. There was still time on the
clock.
Gar Heard's jumper at the buzzer sent the game into the third overtime.
Boston eventually won, 128-126.

``I was already in the locker room. I had my jersey off. We had to come
out
for the third overtime, but I'll remember that play forever,'' Havlicek
said.

Jones recalled Larry Bird's steal of Isiah Thomas's inbounds pass with
five
seconds left in Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Final. Bird passed

to Dennis Johnson, who made a tough driving layup for a 108-107 Celtics
win.

``Before that happened, I thought we're done, the game is over,'' Jones
said.

So much basketball history was written on this floor. High school
tournaments. College games. Sixteen NBA championships. Turnovers
caused by dead spots, real and imagined. Red Auerbach igniting his
victory
cigars. Auerbach charging from his seat to fight Julius Erving and Moses

Malone of the 76ers. Referee Dick Bavetta suspending a game because
condensation in the old Garden made the parquet too slippery. Bird
smashing his head on the parquet and then returning dramatically to lead

the Celtics over the Pacers in Game 5 of the 1991 first-round playoffs.
Reggie Lewis collapsing to the parquet in the first game of the
Charlotte
playoff series in 1993, the last game he would ever play.

Now the original parquet floor itself is history.