Evan Turner said Wednesday night that he would practice with the Sixers Thursday despite missing the final nine minutes of a loss to the Orlando Magic with back spasms.

He didn't.

Doug Collins is not worried and is confident that Turner will play Friday against the visiting San Antonio Spurs. Just the same, Turner did break his back early in his senior season at Ohio State, raising the question: Are the injuries connected?

"No," Collins said, adding, "We wanted him to take the day off. I think he has what Spencer (Hawes) had, and it almost happened the same way. Spencer was out warming up and the chiropractor said what happened was that a rib sort of popped out of place. And when it does, it throws your back into spasm. So it's nothing structural, where you would have pain in your legs and all that kind of stuff. This is all a muscle thing.
“Today, we expected Evan to be very sore because they popped that thing back in. It was in spasm. When I talked to him this morning, he said he would be ready to go (Friday.) Spencer was like that too. It took him about two or three days before he was back to being himself.”

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