BosHerald Celtics Notebook

[opi@unesco.org]

Doug Overton Quotes:

``My motto has always been survival,'' he said following yesterday's
practice at HealthPoint in Waltham. ``Some guys have it another way and
some guys have to fight for it every year. I understand that. Who was to
say I'd get a chance to play here with all this mystique being a Celtic?
There's a lot of pride that goes with that so I'm going  to go out as
hard as I can.''

Overton, an eighth-year veteran playing for his sixth team, said he
won't be intimidated by the pressure defense style preferred by Rick
Pitino.

 ``I haven't played a game yet but things move pretty fast,'' he said.
``I'm excited about it because I like the style. I like to pick up guys
fullcourt. I like to press and I like to run the ball. So I don't think
I'll  have any problems.''

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More on the Parquet Floor dilemma:

 ``The primary reason we have the floor is to play basketball games,''
said Celtics executive vice president Richard Pond. ``Our goal is to
have a state of the art floor which protects our players and players
from other teams.''

The current floor, which was also used in the Garden, has been in  place
since the Celtics and the NBA began 53 years ago. Pond said discussions
involving the exact nature of the new floor are ongoing.

``This floor has more significance than any other playing surface in the
league,'' he said. ``The history started Day 1 of the league. In every
one of our discussions, we've talked about the need to respect the
historical integrity of the floor, so this has created a very difficult
dilemma while going forward with this project. The dilemma is in
blending the two.''

Pond said the professional design people the team is working with
``would very much be in tuned with the historical issues at work.''

Pond said it was unlikely that replacing the floor's support structures,
the connectors and padding, would solve the problem of dead spots in the
aging surface or improve its overall quality. He said significant
overhauls of those structures would take place.