Leon Powe was the man of the night. The ABC people could not have scripted it better with his half time feature coinciding with the best game of his career. The Lakers had no match for his muscle and effort when he was in there: 21 points in less then 15 minutes. Powe also made the play that in a way was the negative turning point in the game for the Celtics. In the 4th quarter, Powe went coast to coast for a slam and it looked like the Lakers had stopped trying at that point because they parted like the Red Sea as Powe came down the court. After that play, the Celtics seemed to lose their intensity because of their perception that the Lakers had stopped trying. However, the Lakers much like a tropical storm entering the Gulf Of Mexico reintensified and starting draining shots. Luckily, the Celtics where able to make enough plays down the stretch to avoid disaster.
        Now back to the first 31/2 quarters. Pierce played like a superstar. He had an game high 28 points to go along with 8 assists. In addition, he was 4/4 from behind the arc and hit the clutch free throws on the end of the game. Ray Allen did a good job playing the role of the extra scoring option with 17 points. Rondo played good D, 16 Assists!, and only two turn-overs. P.J. Brown stepped up huge with KP in foul trouble. He was 3/4 from the field and had a game high +plus 20 plus/minus.