If you were with us all last night, you know what an intense game it was. The Celtics struggled at first, then spent the middle two quarters blowing LA off the floor, before getting silly and sloppy and watching LA take a 24-point lead down to two before Pierce and Posey iced it, 108-102, from the free throw line.

We could talk about all that. But we'd rather talk about Leon Powe. The guy who KG thought was a security guard when they met in training camp. The guy who Phil Jackson needed two tries to pronounce his name right after just getting flattened by him. The guy who showed last night the difference between Eastern ball and Western ball. The guy who scored 21 points in 15 minutes. The guy who went coast-to-coast while two helpless Eurolakers looked on as he slammed it over their heads.

Not that it was all Powe, all the time. Pierce looked perfectly healthy, with 28 points and 4-4 3-pointers. Rondo dished out sixteen assists, many of them perfectly sweet. P.J. Brown played very well off the bench, taking a lot of minutes from a still-banged-up Perk. And Garnett had about as quiet a 17/14 game as the most visible guy on the team could possibly have.

For LA? Kobe Bryant stepped up and played like himself in the fourth quarter when the Lakers made their run. They also got late contributions from benchers Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Farmar. But Pau Gasol took another second-half siesta, and Lamar Odom was arrested after the game for impersonating an NBA Finals starter. Sean Grande pointed it out on the radio postgame show: it's going to be a very interesting Laker flight back to the West Coast, as Kobe has six hours to talk to the guys who aren't playing well.

Phil Jackson probably won't be talking to the guys; he'll be too busy arranging a string quartet to play background music for his "The Lakers Got Screwed By The Refs" Symphony. "I've never seen a game like that in all these years I've coached the Finals. Unbelievable," said Phil. It's a drumbeat that you'll hear a lot from bellyaching Lakerworld today, which means that the NBA will issue referee outfits to three LA fans for Game Three. Our carefully-considered response to Phil's accusations can be summed up here.

Justin Masterson keeps on rollin'. The youngster shut down the Mariners for six innings, while his teammates finally (just barely) figured out Erik Bedard and scraped out a 2-1 win. J.D. Drew, who we think is hitting .895 in June so far, drove in both runs - one on a solo homer, one by stepping into a pitch with the bases loaded. The Orioles come in for three tomorrow, before Interleague Play begins in earnest and we have to figure out who the hell is on Cincinnati and Philadelphia.

Photo from NBA.com.