‘Kobe Would Be Proud Of Me’: Hawks’ Dejounte Murray After Attempting 44 Shots vs Celtics – News18

At some point in their careers, players hope to replicate the performances of NBA greats. They might not even be aware that they are doing so at the time. On Friday, March 29, Atlanta Hawks’ Dejounte Murray must have felt a sense of fulfilment after following in the footsteps of the legendary Kobe Bryant in his team’s dramatic win over the Boston Celtics.

After starting the season as one of the lowest teams on the standings, the Hawks had won three straight games to gradually build momentum. That streak was expected to come to an abrupt end because the team’s next game was scheduled to take place against the Boston Celtics, who were ranked first on the NBA points table. Murray, the team’s point guard, saved the day, though, keeping the Hawks in a close race the entire time.

When facing the Celtics, who were the top seed in the East, Murray was a man on a mission. He was transcendental. A career-high 44 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, two steals, a block, 18 of 44 field strikes and 6 of 19 three-point shooting were all accounted for by him.

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In front of their home crowd, he even outscored the whole Boston team during overtime, topping them 11–10 as he made the game-winning basket to give the Hawks a 123–122 win.

The Hawks player acknowledged 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 game, including the game-winning shot. According to StatMuse, Murray’s 44 points from 44 shots is the least number of points in that amount of shots since Kobe Bryant scored 41 points from 47 shots in 2022.

“I mean, what did I tell you before? It’s the NBA, right? That’s the best team in the league. We competed, you know. We didn’t use being tired or anything, a back-to-back [against Celtics] as an excuse. We came out and competed,” Murray said postgame.

“These are the games I want to be a part of. And I still feel like I played awful. I don’t wanna 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, until the end, and we got a great team win.”

Murray has effectively been shouldering the Hawks’ offensive burden 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 demonstrated how much he has improved in Young’s absence by scoring 30 or more points six times in this ongoing run.