(Associated Press)

With 2:30 to go in the first quarter Sunday, Evan Turner didn't like a traveling call directed toward him. He said something – and it didn't really matter what it was – toward the official, and got a technical foul because of it.

Whoops.

A day later, Sixers coach Doug Collins called Turner's reaction “that little meltdown,” then lauded the emotional reaction of his third-year swingman in the Sixers' loss to the New York Knicks, a game that feature plenty of hot-blooded plays.

An excitable player with the tendency to get riled up, Turner admitted afterward that he was remorseful for getting T'd up. He said he shouldn't have let a silly call like traveling get the best of him.

Still, it wasn't enough to rile up Collins. Well, kind of.

“I was trying to get him off the floor. I was trying hard,” Collins said of Turner. “He got it and I said, 'Evan, I told you,' and he said, 'I got it now.' I said, 'Yeah, I know. Now.'

“The one thing about Evan, and I told him this, is I admire his competitive nature. Evan would take on the other team by himself if he could and I love that about him, but I don't want him to feel like he has to do that.”

The Sixers (22-32) are back in action Tuesday against visiting Orlando, and they desperately need a win in this one. Collins' crew is on a five-game skid, matching their longest losing streak of the season. The loss against the Knicks dropped the Sixers into a tie for last place in the Atlantic Division with Toronto, and put the Sixers 10 games under the .500 mark for the first time since 2010-11, when they opened Collins' first season at the helm with a 3-13 mark.