Achi news desk-
Published By: Vivek Ganapathy
Last Updated: March 29, 2024, 4:16 PM IST
United States of America (USA)
At some point in their careers, players hope to repeat the performances of the NBA’s greats. They may not even be aware that they are doing so at the time. On Friday, March 29, Dejounte Murray of the Atlanta Hawks must have felt a sense of satisfaction after following in the footsteps of the legendary Kobe Bryant in his team’s dramatic victory over the Boston Celtics.
After starting the season as one of the lowest teams in the standings, the Hawks had won three straight games to gradually build momentum. That run was expected to come to an abrupt end because the team’s next game was scheduled to take place against the Boston Celtics, who came first in the NBA points table. However, Murray, the team’s point guard, saved the day, keeping the Hawks in a close race throughout.
Facing the Celtics, who are the top seed in the East, Murray was a man on a mission. It was transcendent. He was responsible for a career-high 44 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, two steals, a block, 18 of 44 field goals and 6 of 19 three-point shooting in total.
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In front of their home crowd, he even outscored the entire Boston team in overtime, going up 11-10 as he made the game-winning basket to give the Hawks a 123-122 victory.
The Hawks player acknowledged that he didn’t want to shoot as often as he did, but he thought the late Kobe Bryant could be proud of the effort. Murray made 44 shot attempts throughout the match, including the game-winning shot. According to StatMuse, Murray’s 44 points on 44 shots is the fewest points in that amount of shots since Kobe Bryant scored 41 points on 47 shots in 2022.
“I mean, what did I tell you before? This is the NBA, right? That’s the best team in the league. We competed, you know. We didn’t use to be tired or anything, back to back [against Celtics] as an excuse. We came out and competed,” Murray said after the game.
“These are the games I want to be a part of. And I still feel like I played terribly. I don’t want to take that many shots, but I know Kobe would be proud of me. But at the end of the day, we competed at a high level, right to the end, and we had a great team win.”
Murray has effectively been shouldering the offensive load for the Hawks until teammate Trae Young returns from injury. He has averaged 29.2 points, 9.1 assists, 5.1 rebounds, 2.5 steals, and 40.5 percent from three-point range since March 8. He has shown how much he has improved in Young’s absence by scoring 30 or more points six times in this ongoing streak. .
