(Video) The Buckeye Breaks Out - Evan Turner Blazes the Suns in Phoenix!!

(Evan Turner - image Li-Ning)

12.29.2010 - Philadelphia 123 at Phoenix 110 (NBA Regular Season)
-Evan Turner: 23 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 9-12 from the field!

A fitting close to 2010: To say the year of 2010 has been a special one for Evan Turner would be a massive understatement.

Following a historic 2009/2010 NCAA season, the guard out of Chicago, Illinois became the first Buckeye to win the Naismith National Player of the Year Award. In June, Buckeye Nation would watch Turner shake hands with commissioner David Stern as the number two overall pick of the 2010 NBA. And the now former player of Ohio State is currently realizing a dream of competing against the very best in the world. So in a year where E.T has delivered memorable moment after memorable moment, it is only fitting that he would close out the calendar with another career highlight.

The ever improving Philadelphia 76ers played visitors to the Western Conference Phoenix Suns on December 29. To watch this game, and to watch Evan Turner was like that of an Arizona sunset view. Everything was just right, the lineup, the minutes, the flow, the rhythm, the shot. A quick look at the box-score easily revealed a major storyline from this game. #12 registered a rookie high 23 points off an efficient 9-12 from the field & 4-4 from the line. This was indeed a hot shooting night for Turner, but the way in which he was scoring is what made it special evening for us.

E.T started out by swishing two in rhythm mid range jumpers (the first was off the dribble, the second was a catch, jab & shoot). And from there, you could just see the confidence rising. An active tip in layup was next followed by a nice, confident floater. The sight of Tuner imposing his will on the game brought back memories of his Ohio State days. These were his kind of looks, and he was getting them within the flow of what Philly wanted to do. Even if it wasn't an ideal look, Evan was knocking almost all of them down that night, as evidenced by a clutch 4th quarter three over Grant Hill to put the Suns away.

In Evan Turner's top NBA game to date, he displayed flashes of what he was, but also glimpses of the player he will become. The new year of 2011 has brought a new chapter with new challenges, and this is only the beginning.

Note: (from reading this, you can probably guess that forward Andre Iguodala did not play due to injury, see that was one of the aspects of this game that made it a perfect 'sunset view', if you get our drift)

(video complete with hilarious commentary from Suns great Eddie Johnson)