Boston 102, Memphis 92

Last night was the Leon Powe show.


[recap] [box score] [highlights]


It was a career gane for the third-year man out of California. Powe, taking advantage of extended playing time due to injuries to Kevin Garnett and Glen Davis, had 30 points, 11 rebounds, and an uncharacteristic five blocked shots against the Grizzlies. RwH has always been a big Powe fan, and it's very satisfying to see him have a game like this.


RwH has also, however, always been lukewarm towards Celtics coach Doc Rivers, at least as a bench coach, and it will be interesting -- and by "interesting," I mean "potentially very frustrating" -- to see what happens when Davis comes back. Of the two somewhat undersized power forwards -- undersized in terms of height, that is -- Powe is clearly the better player, a fact that seems clear to everyone but Rivers. After declaring in the preseason that Powe would be the first forward off the bench, Rivers quickly started giving more and more playing time to Davis.


Big Baby hasn't been bad this year, and when he's hitting his jumper, as he has been the last month or so, he's an effective player. But he doesn't mix it up underneath the way Powe does, doesn't crash the boards as well, and can, when he's not hitting that J, shoot us out of some games.


Powe, on the other hand, always plays hard and gives us the rebounding we desperately need from the second team. He doesn't necessarily "need the ball" to score; he gets a lot of buckets off of offensive rebounds and by being in the right spot at the right time. And because he operates so close to the basket, he takes better shots, shooting almost 52 percent to Davis' 43 percent. He also takes the most free throws of any Celtic not named Paul Pierce, a remarkable statistic given that he plays less than 18 minutes per game.

However, Powe can get out of rhythm a little bit: There are times when he just doesn't seem to have his footwork down or his confidence up, and the result can be some ugly and embarrassing post moves. It's important for Powe to have a defined, regular role on the team. If Doc jerks him around too much, there's a real risk that we'll lose his effectiveness for several games.