The score was 96-78 when Powe left the game with 5:56 left

[Bossco]

Can someone please explain to me why Leon Powe was taken out of this game with 5:56 left in the fourth?

Is it just coincidence that we let them back into the game after he left?

In my opinion, this is another example of mr. Rivers' inability to understand who is hot and who should be in the game.

He needed a rest you say?! Give me a break. After what this kid has been through in his life, I wouldn't be surprised if he could play all 48 minutes, EVERY game!

[bbc3341]

The Lakers got incredibly hot, I agree Powe would have been helpful on the offense, but this Lakers team is very good offensively and we withstood one of their best runs ever! We won!

[FanInTheSouth]

You can't really blame Doc for taking Leon out with 6:00 to go in the game and us up by 20.  I honestly don't think it's Doc's fault that we decided we could get sloppy because "the game was over."  Excellent example is Pierce traveling on the attempted 4 point play.  At the time I didn't mind it and I thought might as well try to put a dagger in them, but looking back it probably was a poor play. 

I actually think Doc coached a brilliant game (aside from playing Cassell instead of House), but as it has already been said..

WE WON!!!  2-0 BABY!!!

[rmcc4444]

Can someone please explain to me why Leon Powe was taken out of this game with 5:56 left in the fourth?

Is it just coincidence that we let them back into the game after he left?

In my opinion, this is another example of mr. Rivers' inability to understand who is hot and who should be in the game.

He needed a rest you say?! Give me a break. After what this kid has been through in his life, I wouldn't be surprised if he could play all 48 minutes, EVERY game!

it was 102-86 with 3:20 left.  moot point.

[Mogreen17]

Can someone please tell me a quick version of leon powe's story that was aired at halftime (as they chose not to show that segment where i live).

I also thought that house should've got some minutes at around the 8 minute mark when we were up by 20+

[wdleehi]

Doc decided to go small. 


He took away the Celtics big advantage (size inside and rebounding). 



Next game, they need to stay big all game long. 

[Barnabas]

Powe was impressive.  Can you imagine how good this guy would be if he were only a couple of inches taller!  But then he would have gone pretty high in the draft.  I like Powe's game better than Big Baby's. 

[Redz]

They were up by 26 two minutes earlier with Powe on the floor.  A few possible reasons why Doc would take him out:

1) He's picked up his 4th foul (probably not a huge concerns)
2) He'd missed his last shot (his first miss of the night, but it was not layup or a dunk attempt and appeared be a bit of a "heat check" by Leon
3) Doc wanted more perimeter D to shut down the 3's (worked great, huh? but that was th eidea of getting Ray Allen in and Powe out)

[Hrvoje]

Can someone please tell me a quick version of leon powe's story that was aired at halftime (as they chose not to show that segment where i live).

I also thought that house should've got some minutes at around the 8 minute mark when we were up by 20+

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?&brand=null&videoId=3431082&n8pe6c=3

[celticmaestro]

kg was shabby last night. sorry but he was.

[MattD]

My brother and I were at the game and were wondering, as the lead shrunk and Doc kept with the same line-up, whether a coach had ever been fired *during* an NBA Finals game, much less one where his team had led by 20+ points?  Doc took Leon out because the Lakers were loading up on 3-point shooters, but the lineup he put in kept collapsing to the interior and letting them shoot open 3s...plus the offense stagnated once Leon left.  I would have rather had Powe's interior defense and his high-percentage scoring out there.

Mind you I am biased, I was wearing a Leon Powe jersey to the game...

[Bankshot]

kg was shabby last night. sorry but he was.

Yeah he was.  The game would have been a blowout much earlier had he asserted himself down low.  There's no way around it... he played a bit soft and refused to get in the box most of the game.  Doc even talked about it.  Doc said in the postgame that they wanted to go inside from the beginning and it never happened so he inserted Leon to get an inside presence.  I took that as a bit of a dig at KG.

[nickagneta]

I cannot believe that there are still those Doc bashers here that want to blame everything that doesn't work perfectly on Doc.

1. One Paul Pierce admitted that the team and especially he was complacent and played as such once the lead got huge and the time was down to 8 minutes or so. He also mentioned playing not like they were but as if they were just waiting for the game to run out. If the players have this type of mentality on the floor, how is a Doc substitution of Ray Allen for Leon Powe the reason for the Laker comeback?

2. People here are so quick to blame Doc for whatever part of the game seems to be faltering. During the Cleveland and Detroit series Doc was an idiot because his offensive schemes sucked. But the Doc Bashers thanked heaven above for Coach Tom Thibodeau because at least he was there to save the day with his great defensive coaching. So obviously Doc Bashers believe when the defense works it's Coach T's responsibility. So why is Doc doing such a bad job when the reason for the Laker comeback was not the fact that the Celtics only scored 8 points in the 4th but the fact that the Lakers scored 41 points in the 4th? The Celtics 25 point 4th was offensively fine and should have been easily enough to win the game big. It was the defense that sucked. So why isn't that Coach T's responsibility? Why is he not being called out?

Here are the reasons. because plain and simple, Doc Bashers will bash Doc no matter the reason. He could do a brilliant overall whole year coaching job and win the championship but somehow be awful. Because the hatred for Doc as a coach overrides the logic of those that do not like him.

You have all the right to criticize the man, that I do not question. What I question is the logic behind it. If you give credit to another coach for the defensive success, then call out that coach when the defense fails, not Doc.

When the players on the court play horribly, call out those players, not Doc.

Call Doc out when he is supposed to be called out. Bad plays called after timeouts, horrible substitutions and rotational patterns, poor player preparation, poor usage of timeouts, and other such things.

But to blame a comeback by the second best team in the league, during a complete blowout win, when the players on the team stopped playing aggresively or playing any defense, and the other team is suddenly hitting 7 of 9 3-pointers on Doc because he took out Leon Powe is about as dumb a thing as I've seen from the Doc Bashers in a long time.

This team has won 2 straight Finals games against his highness Kobe and the winningest playoff coach ever.

And people are still complaining about Doc?

Get real people.

[wdleehi]

I cannot believe that there are still those Doc bashers here that want to blame everything that doesn't work perfectly on Doc.

1. One Paul Pierce admitted that the team and especially he was complacent and played as such once the lead got huge and the time was down to 8 minutes or so. He also mentioned playing not like they were but as if they were just waiting for the game to run out. If the players have this type of mentality on the floor, how is a Doc substitution of Ray Allen for Leon Powe the reason for the Laker comeback?

2. People here are so quick to blame Doc for whatever part of the game seems to be faltering. During the Cleveland and Detroit series Doc was an idiot because his offensive schemes sucked. But the Doc Bashers thanked heaven above for Coach Tom Thibodeau because at least he was there to save the day with his great defensive coaching. So obviously Doc Bashers believe when the defense works it's Coach T's responsibility. So why is Doc doing such a bad job when the reason for the Laker comeback was not the fact that the Celtics only scored 8 points in the 4th but the fact that the Lakers scored 41 points in the 4th? The Celtics 25 point 4th was offensively fine and should have been easily enough to win the game big. It was the defense that sucked. So why isn't that Coach T's responsibility? Why is he not being called out?

Here are the reasons. because plain and simple, Doc Bashers will bash Doc no matter the reason. He could do a brilliant overall whole year coaching job and win the championship but somehow be awful. Because the hatred for Doc as a coach overrides the logic of those that do not like him.

You have all the right to criticize the man, that I do not question. What I question is the logic behind it. If you give credit to another coach for the defensive success, then call out that coach when the defense fails, not Doc.

When the players on the court play horribly, call out those players, not Doc.

Call Doc out when he is supposed to be called out. Bad plays called after timeouts, horrible substitutions and rotational patterns, poor player preparation, poor usage of timeouts, and other such things.

But to blame a comeback by the second best team in the league, during a complete blowout win, when the players on the team stopped playing aggresively or playing any defense, and the other team is suddenly hitting 7 of 9 3-pointers on Doc because he took out Leon Powe is about as dumb a thing as I've seen from the Doc Bashers in a long time.

This team has won 2 straight Finals games against his highness Kobe and the winningest playoff coach ever.

And people are still complaining about Doc?

Get real people.

So we shouldn't ask what happened?

We shouldn't question the decision to go small when play big for 7 straight quarters was working great for the Celtics?


As for the three pointer and going small, when the Celtics went small, the Lakers and Kobe were finally able to penetrate and that opened up the kickout pass for open three pointers. 


now whether it is Powe, PJ or perkins, one of them should have been in there. 


Yes, the Celtics players on the floor took their foot off the Lakers throat, the lineup they used gave the Lakers an advantage. 

 


(and with all that said, I love the Celtics are up 2-0)

[kozlodoev]

Doc decided to go small. 


He took away the Celtics big advantage (size inside and rebounding). 



Next game, they need to stay big all game long. 

Size and rebounding?! Powe had 2 rebounds. There are several reasons why he was pulled: first, the Lakers adjusted to no longer give him wide open dunks (he had two quite bad possessions when he chose to go in traffic with the ball); second, and that point in time he had already gone for 8 consecutive minutes on the floor.

Again, small ball is not the reason why the Celtics lost the lead. Unless you're trying to say that Powe would have helped against Radmanovic, who was camping in the corner, or would have been the shot blocking presence that would have stopped Kobe from driving to the rim.

The Lakers almost came back because we packed it with 6 minutes to go, and you cannot do this against the best team in the west. Unless, of course, you're looking to lose.