I think the reason Evans started was to see if Alec Burks could get his shots in the starting line-up, to get Alec get more touches and see Favors would do being the only player to play center. It may very well be just to reward his performance for once.
Benching Kanter probably was to see if he could carry the team. Since second unit lacks scoring Kanter may well get subbed earlier and come into play with second unit to balance things.