Evan Turner was really bad Friday night. He shot 5 for 22, for goodness sake, in Game 4 of the Sixers Eastern Conference semifinal series against Boston.
But he was also really good. He scored half of his 16 points in that monstrous 37-16 second-half run, which took the Sixers from 18 down early in the third quarter to three up with nine minutes left, en route to an unlikely 92-83 victory (see game recap).
More bad: Four of his shots were blockedtwo each by Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.
And more good: He claimed nine rebounds.
Had to be the best bad night of his brief NBA career. Or the worst good one.
I guess, he said. Again, you cant worry about shots. Last game I was missing shots (going 1 for 10 and scoring four points in the Game 3 loss). This game, I missed some. They were going in and out and stuff. Thats life. Who cares?
Which is the whole point. The game was as much about will as skill, as much about persevering, for him and everyone else.
Five-for-22, and he kept grinding away, Elton Brand said. He hit some shots in that third quarter, when we were kind of bleeding and needed some shots. He has to do that. He has to be aggressive. Thats what theyre giving us. He has to take those shots. I was proud of him.
Added Thaddeus Young, He was our energy and our intensity level in the first half. He was in there getting rebounds and just trying to keep going at them. And they werent calling many fouls, but he kept going at them. Then we just kind of piggy-backed off that, and just tried to help him out and keep playing.
Nobody could make a shot for a long time, from anywhere. The Sixers were a pitiful 9 for 39 from the field in the first half. Thats 23.1 percent. They also missed eight of their 21 free throws.
Doug Collins had said before the game that they are not a physical team, but the Sixers talked at halftime about mixing it up, and damned if they didnt. Moments after Garnett was assessed a technical foul for throwing an elbow at Turner early in the third quarter, Brand clotheslined Garnett as he tried to maneuver across the lane.
Oh, man, Brand said, in mock protest. I didnt clothesline anyone, man. I dont clothesline people.It was nothing. I didnt clothesline anyone.
OK, so how would he describe it?
Just a foul, he said. A hard foul. A playoff foul. I didnt hear the whistle and I didnt want him to get a layup.
Brand is playing with a sore neckhe said he has been having muscle spasms ever since he took a hard fall in Game 2 of the Chicago seriesand has played little in this series, and not at all in any of the fourth quarters. He had three points and two rebounds in just under 16 minutes Friday, and has 17 and 11, respectively, in the four games to date.
But Collins said before Fridays game that he admires and respects Brand to the ultimate, so he will continue to start, while rookie Lavoy Allen will continue coming off the bench to do the bulk of the defensive work against Garnett.
Its painful 24 hours, Brand said of his neck. I dont get a break from pain. But Im going to be out there. My 15 minutes, I need to do something with it. I want to contribute as much as I can.
His hard foul seemed to awaken the Sixers and distract the Celtics. The Sixers immediately reeled off 10 straight pointssix of those by Turnerto get back into it. And Boston never regained its offensive rhythm.
I thought we got into that (physical play) instead of playing basketball, quite honestly, Celtics coach Doc Rivers said afterward. It seemed a none-too-veiled shot at Garnett, who shot 3 for 12, scored nine points, collected 11 rebounds and turned the ball over seven times the day before his 36th birthday.
The Sixers kept coming. They took their first lead of the night on Jodie Meeks three-pointer with 9:49 left, then added to it when Lou Williams stripped Pierce and pitched the ball ahead to Turner, who dunked with nine minutes remaining.
It was Turners last basket of the night. The heroics down the stretch would be provided by othersnotably Andre Iguodala, who broke the nights last tie with a jumper, then nailed a corner 3. But Turner had done a good bit.
And some of it was good. Maybe more than anybody in the stands realized.
Gordie Jones is an award-winning journalist who has worked in the Philadelphia market for 29 years. He also co-authored a book about the 76ers' 1982-83 championship team with former Sixers general manager Pat Williams.