Turner's strong bench play earns him Sixth Man of the Year votes

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ATLANTA – Evan Turner has been the ultimate utility player for Brad Stevens, filling any and every role he has been asked to at a fairly high level.
 
But his best work has come off the Celtics’ bench, which is why Turner was among the top vote-getters for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award.
 
Turner finished fifth in the voting, with Los Angeles Clippers guard Jamal Crawford winning it for the third time.
 
The 6-foot-6 Turner, who may be in the starting lineup tonight in place of Avery Bradley (right hamstring), received three first-place, seven  second-place and 10 third-place votes for a total of 46 points.
 
First-place votes were worth five points, second were worth three and third-place votes were one point.
 
“It’s cool to get that recognition,” Turner said prior to the Celtics’ morning walk-through on the campus of Georgia Tech. “Right now I’m just focusing on the playoffs.”
 
Stevens was unaware of where Turner finished in the voting until told about it this morning, but he may have been the least surprised at Turner being recognized as one of the league’s top reserves.
 
“I can’t imagine anyone being more valuable off the bench, then Evan,” Stevens said. “We wouldn’t prefer to have anyone else at that spot. He’s been extremely valuable. He guards three positions a night, sometimes four. Obviously, we have him with the ball all the time. He’s had a great year and has really impacted us the last two years.”
 
Turner appeared in 81 games this season (12 starts) and averaged 10.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game while shooting 45.6 percent from the field. Led all reserves and ranked fifth in the NBA in fourth-quarter assists (121).

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