Sixers Nix Knicks Behind Big Night from Turner

By Sean Kennedy

There had been a lot of laughs in the Sixers media/blogosphere at some of the more outrageous comments made by Evan Turner lately. He talked about wanted the ball more and giving him the rock (despite a huge 24.9% usage rate), and he thinks he’s one of the best perimeters in the league (despite that not being a word people use, let along true). However, on Wednesday night in the Garden, it was Turner’s time to laugh at the rest of the world, as he dropped a career-high 34 points and 11 rebounds in a 110-106 win for the Sixers.

With Turner working his mid-range game, he and the rest of the team were also on fire from behind the arc, surprisingly able to take advantage of the lazy perimeter defense by the Knicks. The Sixers made 6 of their 9 threes in the first half, and 9 of 14 on the game to finish with more made threes than their previous 3 games combined. They also beat the Knicks in the hustle categories as aside from Tyson Chandler, New York didn’t have a guy over 6’5″ interested in grabbing a rebound; Philadelphia won the rebounding advantage 54-39 on the night. The usual suspects were active on the offensive glass, as Thad Young and Michael Carter-Williams combined to provide 10 extra possessions for their team.

It wasn’t all laughs and good times for the Sixers as per their MO, the Knicks were able to let fly plenty of wide-open threes to keep them in the game. Carmelo Anthony sank 6 of his 8 attempts on his way to a team-high 28 points and the Knicks as a whole made 15 of 33. So don’t worry tanking fans, about the Sixers turning the corner or anything. They needed a career night from Turner and to be playing a largely disinterested and disillusioned Knicks squad to squeak out a victory. The win was fun and everything, because it’s always great to watch New York lose, but plenty of losses remain out there on the horizon.

Box Score

Notable Observations:

• Turner made a phone gesture with his hand after sinking a three in the first quarter because he’s ‘dialing long distance’. Good to know a guy shooting 31% from behind the arc this season is worrying about celebrations for when he makes a three, rather than practicing to make at least a league-average number of them. This is one of the countless reasons I won’t be sorry to see him go at the trade deadline, despite his ability to have nights like Wednesday night.
• The other comedic highlight of the night was Andrea Bargnani thinking he could dunk from a couple feet outside the charge circle. Somehow, the referee bails him out with the blocking call here on what looked like was a good take of a charge from Thad. Still, you can tell based on Bargnani’s trajectory that he’s coming nowhere near the rim.
• Awesome night for James Anderson who hit his first 6 shots of the game to finish with 18 points on 8-11 shooting, 7 rebounds, and a couple sweet alley-oop flushes. This game was the pinnacle of what Anderson could bring to the table for a non-tanking team: some outside shooting and energy finishing at the rim. He’s one of the nice stories surrounding the Sixers being able to give unheralded guys a shot at some major playing time this season.

Tanking Implications:

An Evan Turner explosion, while making for a fun night watching the Knicks go down and potentially boosting his trade value, doesn’t mean much long-term for the franchise. MCW was active on the offensive boards and was three assists shy of a triple-double, but shot just 5-18 from the field, and was deferring to Turner during some big possessions down the stretch. The starters played heavy minutes with Brett Brown going all-out for a win so James Anderson was the only other young guy to even make an impact. 1/5 tanks