I actually wanted to make a thread about this subject. And the truth is, as much as I love Eddie, Doc had no choice. Defensively, besides during the last 30 seconds when he could sub offense for defense, Eddie could not be in the game. The Lakers had Fisher and Bryant playing the 1 and 2, so you simply cannot have both House and Rondo in the game in that situation. Pierce was playing phenomenal defense on Bryant, so you can't take him off Kobe and put Rondo on him. Without that option, you have no options. It was either going to be Rondo or Eddie, not both, and as well as Eddie was playing you have to finish with Rondo.
And again with Powe, although he was playing really well himself, you need somebody in their who has a prayer of hitting a jumper at the 4. When KG fouled out, Baby was the only choice. The Celtics' problem was that they didn't have enough guys in their who could keep LA honest with their jumpers. They obviously sorely missed KG for this and other reasons, and as Doug Collins did a good job of reminding us near the end of the game, Boston actually missed Scal tonight. Oh yeah, and Big Game James would have been nice to have playing the 4 once KG fouled out, as well.
EDIT: As bad as the Celtics executed on offense down the stretch, they would have played even worse had Powe been in the game.