Category: Boston Celtics Blog

These are raw, totally unedited notes of Lakers at Celtics, NBA Finals Game 6, taken live at the game as the action happens. Reload this page regularly.

Kendrick Perkins, who was doubtful for tonight, is well enough to play, and is starting at center. Rajon Rondo, who seems to be playing hurt and hasn’t been effective in the Finals, is at his usual starting point guard spot.

First Quarter

Immediately, a few seconds into the game, Pau Gasol drew a silly foul on Kendrick Perkins. And that possession, Kobe Bryant immediately nailed a jumper.

One minute into the game Derek Fisher drove, and crashed into Paul Pierce, who may have still been moving, but a foul got called on Pierce. It should have been a no-call or an offensive.

The Lakers are playing a zone.

Rajon Rondo misses a jumper, but then makes up for it with a steal and assist to Ray Allen, who hits a three.

Pierce got called for what appears to be a touch foul.

Kobe pulls up and nails an off-balance three in Ray Allen’s face. If he’s doing that all night Boston is in trouble.

Lots of fouls early on. A pair of Rondo free throws makes it 7 all, at 9:12.

Kobe’s shooting the second he gets a look, and even when he doesn’t. This time he was open and quickly splashed a three.

Pierce faked Vladimir Radmanovic off his feet, shot while trying to draw a foul, but missed, and no call. It appeared correct.

A defensive three-seconds call against the Lakers. I didn’t see who it was on.

At 7:36 Pau Gasol falls down, resulting in Kevin Garnett catching and putting in an easy layup.

Celtics are hustling on the offensive boards these last few shots, but not finishing.

Pierce checking Gasol, and makes him miss.

Kobe swoops in, tries to flip it in traffic to Lamar Odom, but turns it over.

Rondo, so open I was closer to him than any Lakers defense, swishes it from the right corner, making it 12-10 Celtics at 5:44.

Kobe, operating outside, fakes everybody a few times and nails a wild off-balance three, again. He has 11 points.
Bill Russell is in the crowd. How did he get tickets? A scalper, maybe.

Luke Walton is in for the Lakers, replacing Vladimir Radmanovic.

Ticker reports: “Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen left Tuesday’s Game Six of the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers with 4:20 left in the first quarter after getting hit in the face. Allen fell to his knees after driving to the basket and scoring against Lakers forward Lamar Odom.”

Odom caught the ball near the rim, Perkins basically just lifted his arm up, and got called for a foul.

The Lakers zone resulted in Garnett hitting a fairly close shot over Kobe.

Walton can catch near the rim and make open layups, as he just proved. And then next play he drove and drew a foul.

KG hits a tough turnaround jumper over Gasol outside the right paint, making it 20-18 Boston with 2:40 left.

Pierce, open from up top at 2:04, missed a pretty open three-pointer.

Jordan Farmar fumbled the ball for no reason, losing it out of bounds.

KG caught an alley-oop and flushed it, driving the fans into a frenzy, though it’s still just a four-point game.

Farmar misses a jumper. He’s not off to a good start. Stay confident, young fella.

Farmar almost lost it again, as Rondo tipped it from behind into what was going to be a turnover, but the refs called Rondo for the reach, putting Jordan at the line. Farmar hits both.

Leon Powe and Eddie house come in for Rondo and Garnett.

Pierce brings the ball up, guarded very loosely by Kobe. Too loosely, and Pierce hits a fairly open outside jumper. Kobe tries to respond by forcing in a defender’s face, but he misses.

Pierce brings the ball up again, guarded by Walton, and with a few seconds left fakes and leaves Walton in the dust, causing Luke to grab him. Celtics ball with 1.8 seconds. It gets inbounded to Leon Powe, who drives slowly as if there’s five seconds left. Quarter ends as he’s still making his move.

End of first quarter: Celtisc 24, Lakers 20.

Second Quarter

The Lakers are in a zone, still.

James Posey does a great job on Kobe, and despite about 28 fakes, Bryant can’t get free, and misses a tough, forced jumper.

Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis is in! He’s hungry. Or so I’d assume.

Sasha Vujacic, and his hair swaying in the wind for the ladies, swishes a jumper. But Eddie House responds with one of his own. Celtics up four.

Kobe, remembering he’s allowed to hit teammates with passes, fires to Odom as he cuts to the basket, drawing a foul.

At 9:57 a tech got called on Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who is absolutely furious because he wants to be reading InsideHoops.com right now and can’t, or so I’m making up.

Celtics role players are stepping up. First, James Posey intercepts a long pass. Then, Leon Powe hustles his way to a layup, putting the Celtics up 31-26 at 8:23.

Antoine Walker is in for the Celtics. No, just kidding, obviously. But wouldn’t it be fun if that were true?

Pierce at the line. He’s twisting his arm sideways slightly more than usual on some of his shots. A bit off-balance.

Pau Gasol glides in for a layup. He’s been grabbing rebounds (5) but otherwise has been quiet.

A Celtics miss, but Posey keeps it alive. And then finds himself open in the left corner for a three, which he swishes, putting Boston up 35-29 at 6:40. And next play, Eddie House hits a three from the exact same spot, resulting in a Lakers timeout.

They like the song ‘Crazy Train’ in this arena. It’s being played yet again.

The Celtics defense continues to deny almost everything the Lakers try. Halfway through the second quarter L.A. is still stuck at 29. Kobe has 13 of those points.

Posey on Kobe and once again Bryant gets contained. And the next play down Pierce finds an open Posey who swishes it from the left elbow, putting the Celtics up 43-29 at 5:20. Fans erupt in a ‘Beat L.A.’ chant. I have chills right now, being here for it.

Gasol, inside, guarded by Big Baby, spins and fakes about four times and puts in a short jump-hook, pulling the Lakers to within 10. But Garnett immediately answers with a deep baseline jumper.

Pierce is at the line. Fans chant “MVP!” at him.

Some Celtics over-passing results in a turnover. It was good teamwork, though. The passes all made sense. Just one too many.

Garnett, guarded by Gasol, shakes and bakes, and puts in a fadeaway in the paint, making it 51-35 Celtics.

Good Celtics passing results in an open Rondo who flips in a short wide open shot in the paint. Now 53-25 Celtics with a minute left in the half.

Huge play: Garnett sets a screen up top, cuts to the rim, catches a pass, hangs in the air, and puts in a tough layup plus the foul.

A play later, Pierce, double-teamed, finds Garnett on the opposite side, who fires it to Perkins down low, who fakes a few times and puts in a layup. Fans are going nuts.

End of second quarter: Celtics 58, Lakers 35.

Halftime

Some stats coming shortly. But first, I’m having some root beer and a Hershey’s chocolate bar. That’s right, I’m a health nut.

The big Celtics lead is very indicative of how well Boston is playing and how Los Angeles is being controlled.

In the first half, the Celtics shot 46.5%, while the Lakers hit an awful 8-of-27 for 29.6%. Also, while the Lakers took 27 shots, the Celtics, who hustled way harder, took 43. The Celtics hit 5-of-12 threes (Posey had 2), the Lakers 3-of-11 (Kobe had all 3). The Lakers hit 16-of-19 free throws, the Celtics 13-of-14. Boston totally controlled rebounds, winning that battle 26-14. And the Celtics had 17 assists (Pierce 9), the Lakers just 5 (Derek Fisher 3). The Lakers had 11 turnovers (Gasol 4), the Celtics just 3. The Celtics had 10 steals (Rondo 4, Posey 3), the Lakers just 3.

Yeah, so, it really is that bad for the Lakers so far.

For the Celtics: Garnett (8-of-12) has 17 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Paul Pierce (just 2-of-9, weird twist on his shot today) has 10 points, 3 rebounds and 9 assists. Ray Allen (2-of-3) has 8 points and 2 steals. Eddie House (2-of-3) has 7.

For the Lakers: Bryant (4-of-11) has 14 points, 3 turnovers, and little else. Gasol (2-of-5) has 6 points, 5 rebounds and 4 turnovers. Everyone else has 4 points or less. Odom is 0-of-4 with 7 rebounds. The Lakers all stink so far. But credit Boston for that.

Third Quarter

The guys who control which fans get shown on the big scoreboard screen above the court have a great sense of humor. During halftime they’re showing fans cheering, making sure to include hot chicks in Celtics jerseys, but twice now they’ve shown a row of three fans where an Asian gentleman in a suit has fallen asleep and the other two people look bored. They showed that guy twice. The third time, he started to wake up, causing fans to cheer. And now the fourth time he’s shown, the guy is fully awake and waves to the crowd.

The third quarter has started. And immediately, Rondo nails a deep open jumper from the side, making it 60-35.

Part of me wants to keep taking notes at the frantic pace I did in the first half, but the rest of me wants to just chill and wait and see if the Lakers make some sort of comeback.

Kobe misses again. And naturally the Celtics control the board. Quick Boston ball movement results in Ray Allen jacking a three as Kobe runs at him. Swish. Celtics up 27, at 10:32.

Finally, a Laker makes a play. Derek Fisher fakes, drives, gets to the rim, gets bumped by Kendrick Perkins, scores plus the foul. P.J. Brown enters for Perkins. Free throw good. Celtics up 24.

More nice Celtics teamwork. Rondo flips it to Garnett around the free throw line, who drives and tosses a short pass to P.J. Brown near the rim, who goes up and gets nailed. Both free throws good.

Odom, guarded by Garnett, fires a long alley-oop to a cutting Gasol, who dunks it. And a play later, Radmanovic swishes a three from the left corner. But Rondo pushes the ball, no one steps up to stop him, so he goes straight to the rim and scores plus the foul. The free throw puts Boston up 70-44.

Kobe is guarding Rondo, playing about 10 feet off of him, as usual. No one respects his outside or even mid-range shot.

The Celtics are simply the superior team tonight, in every way imaginable. Crisp ball movement and brilliant floor positioning results in Ray Allen being wide open for a three from the right corner, which he swishes.

Boston gets good looks maybe 5 plays out of 6. Los Angeles gets them around 1 play of 6.

Kobe has a defender in his face every time he shoots. But so do all the other Lakers. That’s kind of a big problem.

At 5:09, Gasol caught the ball right near the rim, yet KG contained him and forced a jump-ball. The Lakers won the tip and Radmanovic swished a wide open three. But the Celtics quickly answer, making it a 30-point game.

Finally, Bryant looks like a star on a move where he shook Pierce, got at the rim, drew help defenders but double-clutched and went to the other side of the rim for a sweet layup.

Garnett is guarding Odom, and playing so far off of him that when Lamar drives instead of shooting, KG can easily get proper position and force him to pass. A turnover is the result.

Even when the Celtics have to force a shot, they get a look about as decent as the average Lakers look, and Boston almost always gets a hand on the miss, even if they aren’t able to grab it.

Pierce is still off-balance. He fired an airball from the right corner. The Celtics are up 30, though, so it’s all good.

At 1:50 Garnett did something evil: He flopped, while guarding Kobe. The refs, fortunately, ignored it. That’s just wrong, KG. Don’t do that again. Of course, it’s possible he tripped and I just didn’t see it from the correct angle. But from this seat it was a ridiculous flop.

A Gasol jump-hook in the paint cuts it to 25 with around a minute left. Still, each Laker bucket seems lucky, almost. LIke it shouldn’t have really happened.

Everything is going right for Boston, still. Crisp ball movement results in an open mid-range shot for P.J. Brown.

Final shot of the third quarter was Kobe, guarded brilliantly by Posey, firing a desperate fadeaway from the side which wasn’t even close.

End of third quarter: Celtics 89, Lakers 60.

Fourth Quarter

Rondo, Ray Allen, Posey, Glen Davis and PJ Brown are in for Boston. Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Trevor Ariza, Lamar Odom and Ronny Turiaf are in for Los Angeles.

Rondo glides in for a layup as if no one is even pretending to guard him. Magic Johnson must be rolling over in his grave.

Fans start chanting something that I think sounds like “Where is Ko-be?” but I’m not positive that’s what they were saying.

A Lakers turnover resulted in a long pass to Rondo who went up for what was possibly going to be a dunk, but Farmar fouled him, and it was called a flagrant. So Rondo got free throws, and the Celtics kept the ball.

At 10:44 fans start chanting “seventeen!” And then Brown comes out, receiving a standing ovation from the fans.

The Celtics bench is going just as hard as the starters. Glen Davis attacks the rim and gets nailed by Odom. He hits one of two, making it 95-65 Celtics.

Ray Allen curled around some picks, found himself wide open, and quickly launched a three as Vujacic tried to catch up with him. No, Sasha. Swish.

Fans start cheering “seventeen!” again.

Ray Allen keeps running around some picks and getting wide open. He hits again from outside: 101-70 Boston up at 9:07. Timeout Lakers. It’s too late, Phil. Put in Mike Smrek, David Rivers and Kurt Rambis.

During the timeout, they showed Danny Ainge on the big screen, causing fans to go absolutely bonkers, and causing me to get chills for the 9th or 10th time.

Ray Allen, yet again, gets open, not quite as open as before, and again nails a three, making it 104-70 Boston at 8:24.

KG inside. Puts it in. Who was guarding him? Doesn’t matter. It’s too easy.

With 6 minutes left in the game Boston leads 110-75.

And at 5:18, Ray Allen, for the 39th time tonight, finds himself open in the corner for a three, and nails it.

I’m heading downstairs, folks. To beat the crowds getting to where players will be interviewed in post-game conferences.

Congrats, in advance, to the 2007-08 NBA champion Boston Celtics!

Read InsideHoops.com every single day of the year. Coming soon, the NBA Draft, free agent negotiations, signings, trades, summer league coverage, Team USA coverage, and more, every day on your online home, Inside Hoops.

Congrats to Celtics fans and also it should be said that the Lakers have much to be proud of. Their future is bright.

But the Celtics own the league this year.

Game Recap: See a complete game recap, including every stat worth knowing.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune (John Reid) reports: Kendrick Perkins will start tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers after missing Sunday’s Game 5 with a strained left shoulder. Perkins participated in Tuesday morning’s shootaround and deemed himself ready. But Coach Doc Rivers did not make it official until about an hour before tip-off when he announced Perkins would start. Without Perkins in Game 5, the Rivers was forced to start backup Leon Powe. Powe played 4 1/2 minutes and did not score or grab a rebound before he was replaced by Slidell resident P.J. Brown, who played 24 minutes and scored four points and grabbed three rebounds.

The following is a statement from the Los Angeles Lakers:

After meeting with law enforcement and city representatives, we have agreed to not open STAPLES Center for a public showing of any upcoming playoff games from Boston. Because of concerns for resources needed to ensure the safety of fans throughout Los Angeles on nights when the games would be played as well as potential financial burdens on various City departments, we came to this decision. On behalf of the Los Angeles Lakers, we encourage all of our fans to enjoy the upcoming games with friends and family and celebrate the championship run in a safe, responsible and respectful manner.

Statement from Doc Rivers Regarding Ray Allen: Los  Angeles, June 15, 2008 – “Ray Allen was forced to leave Staples Center at  the  conclusion of tonight’s game due to a health issue with one of his children.  We  ask  that you please respect Ray’s privacy at this time, and we’ll keep you up to date as best we can moving forward.”

These are raw, unedited notes of NBA Finals Game 5, taken live as the game happened. Check our site’s front page for the usual recap page.

Starting Celtics center Kendrick Perkins isn’t playing. Leon Powe started in his place. Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo is playing, but hurt, and will probably have limited minutes.

First Quarter

The Lakers have come out like they did in Game 4 and have an 18-5 lead at 6:27 in the first quarter. No Celtics did much of everything, and virtually every Laker did what they do when playing well.

Rajon Rondo passed up an open layup for no reason.

At 2:40 the Lakers lead 29-15. Kobe Bryant (5-of-8) had 15 points.

At 1:08 Kevin Garnett got his second foul. PJ Brown enters for him.

Celtics turnover resulted in open Sasha Vujacic dunk.

End of first quarter: Lakers 39, Celtics 22.

Second Quarter

Chris Mihm is playing! And gets two quick fouls and then shoots an airball.

Paul Pierce has 11. Lakers lead 43-28.

Why is Mihm playing over Ronny Turiaf?

Lakers bench is blowing it. Fueled by Pierce blowing by every defender, Celtics cut 19 point lead to 11 at 9:10.

Tony Allen is in and hits a short flip-in shot.

At 7:37 Gasol shot, KG reached, appeared to get all ball, but got called for his 3rd foul.

Pierce is owning whoever guards him. And then hits a three to cut the Lakers lead to 4. Celtics on 15-0 run.

Celtics have totally turned their defense up, Lakers are rattled.

PJ Brown, James Posey doing good dirty work.

Tony Allen, who does still exist, has 6.

Lakers finally score at 4:03, take a 45-39 lead.

Kobe isn’t creating for teammates. Gasol is, these last few minutes.

Jordan Farmar airball three. But swishes a three seconds later.

Ray Allen looks slow, even when he scores.

Odom scoring, with help from Gasol.

Pierce, who played every first half minute, hits a three for 21 points.

Halftime

Lakers 55, Celtics 52 at the half.

The Lakers, for the second game in a row, started great, then proceeded to just stand around as the Celtics stepped up their defense. The Celtics had the better bench this half. And Rajon Rondo is still limited by injury.

First half stats: Both teams shot around 50% but the Celtics were more efficient from three-point range. Very few free throws for either team. The Lakers grabbed 5 more rebounds. Assists and turnovers were close.

For the Lakers: Kobe took 12 shots for 15 points, Lamar Odom shot 5-of-6 for 11 with 7 rebounds but 3 turnovers, Pau Gasol shot 3-of-4 for 9 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, and Jordan Farmar on 6 shots had 7.

For the Celtics: Pierce on just 12 shots had 21 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, Ray Allen on 5 shots had 9, Kevin Garnett, in foul trouble and only playing 11 minutes, had 8 points and almost nothing else.

Third Quarter

PJ Brown started in the third quarter for the Celtics, with Leon Powe on the bench. I agree with this move. Powe’s good for scoring punch off the bench. Brown is better as a role player alongside starters. And, Garnett, playing with 3 fouls, is finally back in.

Ray Allen missed a three, Vladimir Radmanovic got the rebound, but Rondo stripped it, giving the Celtics another possession that eventually resulted in an Allen three, tying the game at 57 all.

Guarded by Kobe, Pierce draws a foul from the right elbow. Paul’s been awesome. And a free throw of his puts the Celtics up one.

A scramble resulted in Kobe getting a loose offensive rebound and scoring in the paint, plus a reach-in foul on Pierce.

KG scores down low in isolation against Gasol.

At 8:46 Pierce draw an offensive foul on Kobe. It’s Bryant’s 3rd foul. Score is tied at 60.

PJ Brown is doing nice hustle-work for Boston.

Rondo hit a deep, wide open left-corner two, but then was just as open a minute later and missed it.

Pierce continues to drive past whoever pretends to guard him. This time he went past Radmanovic just like I go past my ex girlfriend Angelina Jolie when she begs with me to get back together. Sorry, I’m with Victoria’s Secrets models now.

At 6:04 Ray Allen was guarding Kobe, who went right past him but crashed into Pierce. That’s Kobe’s 4th foul. He’s taken 15 shots for 18 points and not much else.

The Lakers offense sometimes seem to stop when Odom gets the ball. He hesitates more than desired.

At 5:17 Kobe tossed it to Derek Fisher in the right corner, who faked Rondo, took a step in, drew contact from Rondo and hit the shot, plus a free throw, putting the Lakers up 4. Next play, Radmanovic hit an open three from the left corner, resulting in a Celtics timeout.

Sam Cassell, hitting his first shot, pulls the Celtics to within 4 at 2:45. But then he misses yet again, as he was doing earlier.

At 2:35 Gasol caught a pass right under the basket, spun to put it in, and KG swooped in to block it, but he got wrist. That’ Garnett’s 4th foul.

Fisher had a wide open three from the left corner that would have put the Lakers up 9, but he missed.

Luke Walton comes in, flips it to Odom, who scores in the paint.

Eddie House drives, then fires it up top to no one, resulting in a turnover and an annoyed Pierce.

Luke Walton can’t even pretend to guard Pierce.

End of third quarter: 79, Celtics 70.

The Lakers finally won a third quarter, outscoring the Celtics 24-18.

For the game, the Lakers are shooting 48.3%, the Celtics 43.3%. Threes and free throws are almost even. The Lakers are rebounding a bit better. Both teams are throwing the ball away. Pierce has 26 points and 6 assists on 18 shots. Ray Allen has 16, Garnett 10. For the Lakers, four players have between 11 and 18 points.

Fourth Quarter

This is it. The Lakers must win or watch a championship trophy be handed to the Celtics in Los Angeles.

The Lakers start the quarter strong. An Odom three put them up 12, resulting in a Celtics timeout.

Pierce drives on Kobe, uses his body well, and puts in a layup.

At 10:00 Gasol blocked a Ray Allen driving layup, secured the loose ball, but then started falling out of bounds and it appeared Ray Allen grabbed the ball, but a foul was called on Allen. The excited crowd has no complaint. I saw no foul being committed.

And then a play later, Gasol came up with a loose ball. Back down the court, Walton hit an open short jumper, putting the Lakers up 88-74 at 9:05.

Sam Cassell posts up against Farmar and hits a cool short-range turnaround J. It was sweet.

A few plays later, Cassell, up top, faked, got Farmar to leave his feet, but then as Farmar landed Cassell jumped into him, drawing a foul plus the shot. Lakers lead by 9.

Kobe, creating his own shot, nails a jumper from inside the top of the key.

Cassell misses a shot, KG gets an offensive rebound, gives it back to Cassell, who drives for a layup. He’s on fire!

Kobe again forces a shot on his own, over Pierce, missing it. Then Walton pressures Pierce around halfcourt, falls down, Pierce trips over him, and a foul is called on Walton, putting Pierce on the line. Phil Jackson takes Walton out. And now at 6:22 the Lakers lead 90-83.

The Celtics are guarding Kobe extremely well. He isn’t creating much of anything.

At 5:47 Pierce drives, falls down, holds on, and flips it out to James Posey, who nails a three from the left corner. Celtics on a 12-2 run. It’s a 4-point game.

At 4:34 Pierce drives, gets close to the rim, and flips it back to Garnett, who swishes a free throw area jumper, tying the game. Next play, Gasol, operating alone inside against KG, bangs a bit and uses his height to flip it in. Next play, KG gets fouled and will attempt his first free throws of the night.

At 3:38, Gasol and Garnett were bumping, and Garnett’s arms were around Gasol for a second, though it didn’t look like a real hold. But KG got called for foul. It was away from the ball.

Kobe finally does something, dishing nicely to Odom inside, who gets fouled.

At 2:52 the Lakers are up 2. And Gasol drew a foul, but blew the free throws.

Kobe penetrated, got fouled on the drive, but dished to Odom, who was fouled after the whistle by Posey, angering Lamar a bit. Nothing happened, though. Kobe’s free throws put the Lakers up 4 with 2:15 to go in the game.

Pierce goes inside, misses, Celtics get some tips, but Odom comes away with the rebound. Fans rise to their feet.

Kobe, guarded by Ray Allen, forces a tough contested shot, misses, but Gasol keeps it alive. Kobe dribbles for a while and again forces a tough contested shot, from outside against Posey, missing it. And then Odom got called for the foul as Pierce was trying to secure the defensive rebound, sending Paul to the line. Pierce hits both. Lakers up two, 1:08 left.

Kobe drives, is again well-guarded, ball goes to Derek Fisher, who misses.

Pierce handles the ball up top, but Kobe tips it from behind then takes off, catches a long pass, and slams it with two hands, making it 99-95 with 37 seconds left. That’s Bryant’s 5th steal of the game.

Ray Allen drives, misses, Garnett tips but misses, and the Lakers get control, up 4, with 25 seconds left.

The Lakers inbound to Derek Fisher, who the Celtics foul. But Fisher misses the first. Celtics insert PJ Brown. Fisher hits the second. Lakers up 5.

Eddie House misses a very open shot. Ray Allen fouls out. Kobe at the line. Lakers now up 6. Timeout.

House fires again and this time nails a wild three, making it a three-point game. Then the Lakers almost turn it over, but get lucky and recover. Fisher gets fouled. He hits both, making it 103-98 Lakers. And then Fisher steals the inbounds pass, ending it.

Final score: Lakers 103, Celtics 98.

Pierce finished with 38 in the loss.

The Celtics now lead the Finals 3 games to 2. The series now moves to Boston for Game 6. And if there’s a Game 7 it’ll also be in Boston.

Final recap and final stats coming later tonight.

InsideHoops.com rules. Go Inside Hoops every day.

Celtics starting center Kendrick Perkins is not playing in Finals Game 5, which is Sunday night in Los Angeles.

Starting in his place is forward Leon Powe.

Perkins is also doubtful for Game 6, if that game happens.

The Celtics lead the Lakers 3 games to 1 in the Finals. Boston is going for the championship if they win tonight.