Posts Tagged ‘Evan Turner’

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Celtics Must Get In The Paint In Game 7

May 25, 2012  ·  1:05PM

PHILADELPHIA – Points in the paint are often cited as a key to a game or playoff series. And that makes sense, of course. Shots from the paint are better shots than shots from outside the paint. And if you’re getting more of the former, you’re probably playing more efficient offensively.

But not all teams score the same. You can have an efficient offense without scoring a lot of points in the paint, with the Clippers and Thunder as two examples of that this season.

The Boston Celtics don’t score a lot of points in the paint and they don’t have an efficient offense, either. But their points in the paint has been a key to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Overall, the Sixers have outscored the Celtics 232-206 in the paint over the course of six games. The Celtics have only had the PIP advantage once (Game 3). And Philly has actually scored more points in the paint in their three losses (124) than they have in their three wins (108). The big difference has come on the other end of the floor.

Celtics-Sixers points in the paint

Game BOS PHI
Game 1 38 40
Game 2 32 32
Game 3 50 38
Game 4 26 34
Game 5 44 46
Game 6 16 42
BOS wins 44.0 41.3
PHI wins 24.7 36.0

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Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs, NBA.com/Stats / Comments (10) /

Sixers Take Advantage Of Bradley’s Absence

May 23, 2012  ·  11:20PM





PHILADELPHIA – Before Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doug Collins stressed points in the paint as one of the biggest keys.

Then his team proceeded to outscore the Boston Celtics 42-16 in the paint, forcing Game 7 with a 82-75 victory.

This was an ugly game through and through. But the Sixers finally broke through offensively in the third quarter, largely because their guards were repeatedly able to get into the paint. And you had to wonder if things would have been different if the Celtics had Avery Bradley.

The second-year guard, who had made life tough for the Philly guards in the first four games, missed his second straight game with a pair of shoulder injuries. The Sixers’ Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner and Lou Williams took advantage.

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Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (32) /

Bradley’s Status Unknown For Game 5

May 21, 2012  ·  12:33PM

BOSTON – Despite their second-half collapse in Game 4 on Friday, the Boston Celtics are seemingly still in control of their Eastern Conference semifinals series with the Philadelphia 76ers, with Game 5 tonight (7 ET, TNT) and a possible Game 7 on their home floor.

The Celtics have won 17 of their last 19 games at TD Garden and are 34-9 there in the Big Three era. Only once in the last five years have the Celtics lost more than one home game in a playoff series. That was in 2009, when they lost Games 1 and 7 to the Magic.

Kevin Garnett missed that entire postseason. And as we’ve already seen in these playoffs, injuries can trump home-court advantage.

Right now, the Celtics’ biggest injury concern is not with any of their veterans. It’s with the youngest guy on their roster, Avery Bradley. The second-year defensive specialist has been dealing with a left shoulder issue most of the season, and it has already popped out twice in this series.

Bradley was not on the floor for Monday morning’s shootaround, and he’s listed as a game-time decision for Game 5.

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Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (4) /

How Boston ‘Iced’ Philly In Game 2

May 18, 2012  ·  10:20AM

PHILADELPHIA – It’s not clear if Brian Scalabrine is ready to retire yet, but he’s already in preparation for his next career.

Comcast SportsNet New England, which broadcasts Celtics games, hired Scalabrine to provide pre-and postgame analysis during the Celtics-Sixers series. So, there he was, in a suit at TD Garden on Saturday, talking about the Sixers just 48 hours after Philly had eliminated his own Chicago Bulls.

The former Celtic got a huge ovation from the Garden crowd when he was shown on the Jumbotron on Saturday. But Scalabrine’s finest moment of this postseason came after Game 3, when he asked Rajon Rondo one of the smarter questions you’ll ever hear in a postgame press conference.

“The adjustment on the side pick and roll,” Scalabrine said, “you guys went to the ‘ice’ or the ‘down,’ or whatever you guys use in your terminology. Do you like that better than going over the top with the ‘show’?”

“I like it better,” Rondo replied. “I don’t think they do. Their offense, we watched the first couple of games, they got into the paint pretty good on the side pick and rolls. And it led to corner threes, it led to the high-low. I think we took a clip from you guys. You guys ‘iced’ a lot of the side pick and rolls in that series, and I think they struggled offensively. I think we did a good job tonight. The bigs did a great job talking, and guards kept fighting over, even when they did step up and set the side pick and roll.”

OK. So what the heck does it mean to “ice” a pick-and-roll?

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Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs, Film Study / Comments (7) /

Turner Has His Moment In Game 2

May 14, 2012  ·  10:11PM




BOSTON – The Sixers have been searching for a go-to guy since Allen Iverson was traded in 2006.

By default, Lou Williams has been the guy with the ball in his hands down the stretch for the last couple of years. But since he was drafted No. 2 in 2010, Evan Turner has been the man with the most potential to be that guy.

On Monday, at the end of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Turner had his moment. With the Sixers down one and 45 seconds left in the game, the ball was in Turner’s hands. He was isolated on the left wing on Rajon Rondo, a scary and competent defender.

Turner was having an awful night. At that point, he was 3-for-10 with five turnovers. Sixers coach Doug Collins said afterward that Turner was “out of synch.”

But that didn’t matter as Turner drove into the paint and got around Rondo. Paul Pierce came to help, in position to take the charge. But Turner somehow avoided the contact, slipped to Pierce’s side, and put in an incredible scoop shot off the glass.

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Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (13) /

Late Poise Shows Sixers’ Growth

May 5, 2012  ·  6:19PM





PHILADELPHIA – The numbers uglying up the boxscore were making non-believers of many at the Wells Fargo Center Friday night. Some left early. Others stayed but with little hope that the Philadelphia 76ers could dig themselves out with so little going their way.

After living through it once, the Sixers got to see it again on video. By the time they gathered midday Saturday for their film session, they knew how the story ended – a 79-74 victory over Chicago in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round series. And even then it was hard to believe, the way the negatives stacked against them.

“I stopped the tape and it was 69-56 with, like, 9:13 to go,” head coach Doug Collins said at the team’s practice facility. “And I said, ‘How many people watching the game or in the arena last night gave you any chance to win this game? Ain’t anybody outside this room thought we were going to win that game. But you did it. And that’s what you have to do. Those are the kinds of games we have to find a way.’ Our guys summoned up a way to do it.”

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Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (2) /

Sixers Hope To Enjoy ‘Holiday’ Weekend

May 3, 2012  ·  5:56PM




Jrue Holiday’s numbers went down across the board this season, a trend that continued in the Philadelphia 76ers’ playoff opener against the Chicago Bulls last weekend.

It’s a trend, however, that may be over. After sputtering through a forgettable performance in Game 1 against the Chicago Bulls, Holiday was the best player on the floor for the Sixers when they fired back Tuesday to even the best-of-seven series at one game each. The Eastern Conference first-round clash resumes Friday at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, and Holiday sounds determined to pick up where he left off.

“This is the stage you dream to be on,” Holiday said after his team’s 109-92 handling of an emotionally drained Bulls club in Game 2, a team coping with the loss of MVP Derrick Rose and what that means for the rest of its postseason.

For one thing, it means an elusive, scoring-minded point guard such as Holiday has less worries freedom against Bulls backups C.J. Watson and John Lucas III than he did when Rose was around for Game 1. In that one, Holiday scored 16 points and had seven rebounds, but he finished with two assists and three turnovers and never seemed fully in synch. (more…)

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Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (4) /

Bulls Start Off Strong, But Finish Flat In First Sans-Rose Playoff Outing

May 1, 2012  ·  10:50PM




CHICAGO – It was almost like Willis Reed limping through the tunnel again at Madison Square Garden, providing all the emotion and inspiration for the New York Knicks before Game 7 of the 1970 Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Except that Derrick Rose didn’t play. And the Chicago Bulls didn’t win, instead falling to the Philadelphia 76ers 109-92 in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series, evening the best-of-seven showdown at one game each.

It was going to be a tricky emotional night for the Bulls and their fans from the start. They faced going forward in this postseason without Rose, whose torn ACL in his left knee ended his season and severely undercut his teammates’ ambitions. Then Rose limped out just before tipoff in a black sweatsuit and matching black leg brace, with an absolutely forlorn look on his face.

The crowd cheered in appreciation, but the reminder of what had happened three days earlier and whom the team no longer could lean on hung in the air after Rose headed up to a luxury suite. The Bulls played well enough for a half, leading 55-47 at halftime after a particularly inspired second quarter by center Joakim Noah (8 points, 3 rebounds, 4-of-4 shooting). But the Sixers were confident too, hanging close – and then taking complete control in the third quarter.

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Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (36) /

Turner to start Game 2 for Sixers?

April 30, 2012  ·  7:07PM




CHICAGO– Evan Turner’s rivalry with Derrick Rose, which dates back to their days as high school stars from Chicago’s West and South Sides, respectively, might get stoked anew Tuesday night at United Center.

Turner might be on the court as a starter in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference first-round series between Philadelphia and Chicago, while Rose most definitely will not.

All the Bulls star point guard will be able to do, alas, is watch after suffering a torn ACL in his left knee in Game 1 of the series Saturday. But Turner could get boosted into the Sixers’ starting lineup as a reward for his work that day (12 points, five assists, three rebounds, three assists in 29-plus minutes) and as a change of pace from Jodie Meeks.

Meeks, who has been labeled something of a coach’s pet by some diehard Philly fans for his graps on the starting shooting guard job despite poor production, was at it again Saturday, playing ineffectively at both ends and logging barely three minutes after halftime. He started 50 times this season, averaging 9.1 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.9 assists while shooting 41.6 percent. Philadelphia was 29-21 in games Meeks started.

Turner, the second-pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, averaged 12.7, 6.7 and 3.0 while shooting 45.7 percent in his 20 starts, compared to 7.9, 5.4, 2.7 and 43.8 percent off the bench. The Sixers were 8-12 in his starts, however.

Coach Doug Collins declined for a second day Monday to address the possible lineup change. But Sixers point guard Jrue Holiday, a superior defender, hinted after practice at the UC that he might be chasing Rip Hamilton in the Game 2 defensive assignments, with Turner potentially on Rose backup C.J. Watson. Hamilton hurt the visitors in Game 1 with 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Watson doesn’t have Rose’s elusiveness, enabling a matchup with the 6-foot-7 Turner.

“We’d be bigger on the wings,” Philadelphia forward Andre Iguodala said. “So we should be better defensively and we should be able to rebound better, to help us attack and push the ball.” The Sixers got outrebounded in the opener 47-38 and managed only a 17-13 edge in fast-break points, after dominating that category 58-21 in three regular season meetings.


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Posted in 2012 NBA Playoffs / Comments (14) /

Blogtable: What Pseudo-Contender Needs A Trade?

March 14, 2012  ·  10:37AM

Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

What pseudo-contender most needs a trade and won’t get it by Thursday’s deadline?

Steve Aschburner: Philadelphia. The Sixers sure could use a closer, a star offensive player who could get his own shots and, better still, earn trips to the foul line late in games. Evan Turner has been a boost to the starting lineup, but he’s not that guy. However, it’s hard to envision them breaking up the crew that has been so productive or tinkering with the chemistry of the ensemble. Getting center Spencer Hawes back is the next-best thing to a notable trade but a surgical move might have this team really pushing the Heat and the Bulls.

Fran Blinebury: Taking you at your word — pseudo-contender — then the biggest fake in the league was the notion that the Knicks could combine Jeremy Lin with Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony to make noise in the playoffs.  In two weeks, we have gone from Linsanity to Linadequate and Linsufferable watching Melo and coach Mike D’Antoni do their dance of mistrust.  The Knicks need a makeover. What they’ll likely get instead is D’Antoni’s head.

Scott Howard-Cooper: The Magic (with an emphasis on pseudo-contender, not top contender). I will stick to my belief of several weeks that they are not going to deal Dwight Howard, and there is no sense in the thinking that they will be able to make a major addition to convince Howard they can surround him with a championship roster. The second-best trade asset in Orlando is Ryan Anderson. That doesn’t generate a big return. (more…)

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Posted in 2012 Trade Deadline, Blogtable / Comments (90) /

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