BOSTON – The Sixers made sure their first meeting this season with the division rival Boston Celtics was an interesting one.
Evan Turner hit a tough layup in the lane at the buzzer to give the Sixers a 95-94 win over the Celtics. The win snapped a three-game skid for the Sixers and moved their record to 15-31.
Turning point
Kris Humphries missed a wide-open jumper with 11 seconds remaining that would have given the Celtics a three-point lead.
Michael Carter-Williams tracked down the rebound. The Sixers opted not to call a timeout and pushed the ball up the court. After crossing half court, Carter-Williams flipped the ball to Turner and let him take care of the rest.
Turner drove around his defended and hit a leaning layup as time expired for the win. He finished the game with 16 points on 6 of 17 shooting.
Follow the leader
Spencer Hawes carried the scoring load for the Sixers. He scored a team-high 20 points on 7 of 14 from the field, including 4 of 6 from three-point range.
NBA
Thaddeus Young added 16 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Massachusetts native Carter-Williams struggled in his return home. The rookie point guard had 10 points on 4 of 14 shooting. He did chip in with seven assists and five rebounds.
Second-year big man Jared Sullinger, freshly named to the NBA’s Rising Stars Challenge like MCW, led the Celtics in scoring and rebounds with 24 and 17, respectively. Jeff Green added 18 points for the Celtics.
Stat-egic
The Celtics’ bench dominated the Sixers’ reserves on Wednesday. Boston won the bench battle, 38-20.
Take a bow
James Anderson had 13 points, six rebounds and four assists. He was 5 of 7 from the floor in the game.
What’s next?
The Sixers return home to face the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.
The Hawks are fourth in the Eastern Conference at 23-21, despite leading scorer Al Horford being out for the season with a torn right pectoral muscle.
Point guard Jeff Teague has more than picked up the slack, averaging 16.2 points and 7.3 assists a game.
Former Sixers Lou Williams, Elton Brand and Kyle Korver will be at the Wells Fargo Center to face their former team. Korver averages 12.0 points per game and is shooting 46.1 percent from three-point range. Williams comes off the bench to average 9.6 points a game. Brand is putting up 4.1 points and 3.8 boards a night.
The Hawks beat the Sixers 113-103 on Nov. 15 at Phillips Arena.