'Best' and 'Worst' awards; Sixers vs Knicks

NEW YORK – My look at some of the best and worst performances and happenings from the 76ers' 110-106 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden:

Best performance: Any person in his right mind knows Evan Turner is the runaway winner of this award. The Sixers swingman scored a career-high 34 points while making 3 of 3 three-pointers. Turner set the tempo, scoring 10 of his points in the first quarter. He also finished the game with 11 rebounds and two assists. This is big improvement from his Jan. 11 game against the Knicks. Back then he finished with 12 points on 4 for 11 shooting.

Worst performance:  This is tough one, and perhaps, an unfair category for this game. That's because no one really had an awful game. But this goes to Spencer Hawes only because I have to give it to someone. The Sixers center finished with four points on 1 for 3 shooting. He also had just one rebound in 24 minutes of action. But he did have seven assists and a steal.

Best performance in a losing effort: This is another tough one, but it goes to Carmelo Anthony, who battled back from a 0-5 shooting start.  The Knicks swingman ended up making 10 for 23 shots to finish with a team-high 28 points.  He also had seven assists, four rebounds, two steals, a blocked shot and three turnovers.

Best defensive performance:  Lavoy Allen gets this award. The Sixers reserve post player had a team-high three blocked shots. One could argue that the Knicks Andreas Bargnani (four blocks) or Tyson Chandler (three) were more deserving. That would be wrong because for the most part the Sixers were scoring at will against the Knicks' interior defense.

Worst statistic: How can you not give this to the Knicks' points in the paint? They were outscore 50-26 despite starting two 7-footers in Bargnani and Chandler.

Best statistic: This award goes to the Sixers' three-point shooting.  They shot 64.3 percent (9 of 14) from beyond the arc. Not bad for a team that made just 8 of 57 three-pointers in their previous three games – all losses.

-  Keith Pompey

Follow and contact Inquirer 76ers beat writer Keith Pompey on Twitter @PompeyOnSixers