Celtics Floored by Wet Garden

1990-91 Boston Celtics
11/29/1990

They milled about the parquet floor, gossiping and talking about the weather. All that was missing from this Garden cocktail party were the peanuts and the gin and tonics.

Of course, what the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks were supposed to be doing was playing a basketball game, not trading tips on how to beat the salary cap. However, in yet another bizarre chapter of Boston Garden lore, the teams endured a 24-minute delay before their outing last night was suspended because of condensation on the floor. The condensation was the result of unusually high temperatures, which caused the ice underneath the parquet to begin melting and create slippery and unsafe conditions.

Thus, last night's epic will undoubtedly go down in history as the first NBA game called on account of nice weather. "I'm really impressed with Red Auerbach," said Tim McCormick, one of the many players who slipped on the floor. "I thought I had heard about all his tricks, but climate control, that's one I never expected."

At the time suspension the Celtics were cruising, 37-22, with 10:30 left in the second quarter. The league office indicated last night that play will resume with the score intact, but that offered little consolation to the locals, who felt they were laying the groundwork for a win.

"When the other team has lost eight in a row and they're down 15, this is not something you want to happen," said Celtics chief operating officer Dave Gavitt. "I just wanted the game to keep going," said Larry Bird, who was 6 points shy of the 20,000 career mark when the game was called. "But the longer we stood around, the worse it got.