LOS ANGELES -- Evan Turner, by nature, is an emotional guy. He’s also fiercely competitive.
At the end of Sunday’s game, those two characteristics combined to be the force behind Turner committing a no-no on the court.
Turner scored the Sixers’ final field goal, capping off a 111-104 win over the Lakers and ending their near two-month drought of winning on the road (13 games).
His bucket was a reverse slam in front of the Lakers’ bench with 0.4 seconds left on the clock.
The outcome of the game was clearly in hand, so common courtesy is for Turner to dribble the ball out and settle for the five-point win.
“I really thought there was 10 or 15 seconds left, so I didn’t think much of it until I came down,” Turner said. “Then I saw that it was 0.4 seconds and then I realized I was trippin'.”
In actuality, Turner had a moment where he didn’t think, leaving the Lakers’ bench overreacting over something small. That was, at least, their initial reaction.
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"I apologized, and said I made a mistake,” Turner said. “We are grown men. I shook hands. Nobody had anything to say, so I am not going to worry too much about it.”
Turner scored 22 points with seven rebounds and six assists against Los Angeles. It was the third game Turner’s played with Michael Carter-Williams since MCW returned from his right knee skin infection.
There is an obvious difference in Turner’s play when Carter-Williams is in the lineup.
“Mike does a pretty good job of finding me when I am open,” Turner said. “[With] Mike, you have to pay attention … I get a little more open as opposed to seeing two or three people.
“It is always great putting the band back together.”
When the band is together, good rhythm is the result, and the numbers support that.
Turner, by his own admission, should not have played in the Bucks game because of his sore right knee. He made only two shots in 15 attempts, but in the other two games, with Carter-Williams back, he was 22 for 41 from the floor.
Turner shot 38.1 percent from the floor during Carter-Williams’ seven-game absence.