{"id":355056,"date":"2025-11-04T13:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T13:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/355056\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T13:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T13:18:10","slug":"bucks-center-myles-turner-returns-to-indiana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/355056\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucks center Myles Turner returns to Indiana"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Myles Turner was hoping after everything he did for the Indiana Pacers that his longtime fans would at least give him a polite, warm ovation in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/bucks-pacers-score-giannis-antetokounmpo-ea9b6499b58cdf59b7b85c363a6b0569\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">his first game against his former team.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Instead, he heard boos \u2014 all night long.<\/p>\n<p><b>What You Need To Know<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Indiana Pacers honored longtime center Myles Turner with a pregame highlight reel<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Fans responded Monday night with a loud chorus of sustained boos<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Turner had hoped for a warmer reception from the city he called home for the first decade of his pro career, but in his first game in Indianapolis as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks he received boos that persisted each time he touched the ball<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>Turner\u2019s fans turned on him for leaving in free agency in July<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>They started from the moment the public address announcer introduced his pregame video tribute. Each time Turner touched the ball, scored a point or checked into the game, the hurtful crescendo of jeers would restart.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was disheartening. Man, it was frustrating,\u201d he said after helping <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/indiana-pacers-preview-haliburton-19967c34278c9bc30b4da95997bd07b3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> pull out a 117-115 victory on his old home court. \u201cYou give 10 years of your life, your blood, sweat and tears. You take pay cuts, you survive trade rumors, you try to do everything the right way and then sometimes that stuff shakes out. It\u2019s cool, you know, I\u2019ll take it on the chin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Turner certainly had people on his side.<\/p>\n<p>His family sat courtside and received pregame hugs from John Haliburton, the father of Pacers All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton.<\/p>\n<p>Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said before the game he expected Turner to receive the warm reception he deserved. Bucks coach Doc Rivers said after the game he was discouraged by how it all played out. And in between, Turner took time to check in on former teammates and thank the members of the Pacers training staff for what they did during his first decade in the league.<\/p>\n<p>His new teammates had his back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMyles needed this and we all needed this for him,\u201d Bucks guard Cole Anthony said. \u201cThis was a hostile environment for him, especially tonight. I think they booed him every time he got the ball or checked in the game, so I\u2019m definitely glad we were able to get that done for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Turner was one of the longest-tenured Pacers in franchise history and thought he\u2019d experienced virtually every possible environment he could imagine in Indianapolis, from an NBA Finals appearance to an All-Star Game. Then came Monday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was joking with the guys I\u2019ve never even seen the visitor\u2019s locker room, that I didn\u2019t even know what it looked like, so definitely just a different territory to say the least,\u201d he said after the morning shootaround.<\/p>\n<p>Turner\u2019s decision to leave the Pacers in free agency and sign with the rival Bucks started the fans\u2019 anger with him.<\/p>\n<p>Word of Turner\u2019s surprise departure leaked less than two weeks after Haliburton went down with a torn Achilles tendon in the first half of a Game 7 loss to Oklahoma City and after management had already said re-signing Turner was the offseason priority.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s kind of an emotional thing for him,\u201d Rivers said of Turner\u2019s return. \u201cI\u2019ve done it and it\u2019s a lot easier doing it as a coach. You get fired, go back, pretty easy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some fans were merely upset Turner took the four-year, $107 million contract and ran. Others became disillusioned with his post-signing comments, such as wanting to play for a team that would remain competitive this season or in a city that would \u201ccelebrate him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Turner has tried to clarify those comments multiple times and took more time Monday to explain his intentions. It didn\u2019t matter to the fans, who apparently have neither forgotten nor forgiven the Texan, who became a two-time NBA blocks champ in Indy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is definitely a human element to this thing that people are just never going to be able to understand,\u201d Turner said. \u201cI was here when I was 19 years old. I grew up here, it\u2019s all I\u2019ve ever known. So to come back to a place where there\u2019s nothing but hate and boos, it\u2019s tough. I think there\u2019s plenty of people who are appreciative of what I\u2019ve done for the city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Turner finished with nine points, seven rebounds and five blocks on a night he went 3 of 7 from the field. His replacement in Indiana, Isaiah Jackson, finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds \u2014 his highest single-game scoring total since January 2022.<\/p>\n<p>But Giannis Antetokounmpo\u2019s buzzer-beating mid-range jumper at least allowed Turner to leave town a winner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s all love at the end of the day,\u201d Turner said, referring to his ex-teammates. \u201cThere\u2019s plenty of guys that, you know, show love, too. But we\u2019re rivals now, you know what I mean? So outside of basketball is one thing. But when it comes to between the lines, you know what is now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Myles Turner was hoping after everything he did for the Indiana Pacers that his longtime fans&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":355057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[30319,7448,1578,1260,50,62,52,67,132,68,1398],"class_list":{"0":"post-355056","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-app-sports","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-associated-press","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-wisconsin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115491628895871569","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}