Keegan Murray scored a career-high 47 points, and hit 11 three-pointers in a row, as the Kings defeated the Jazz 125-104 in Saturday night’s game. Murray ended the night shooting 12-of-15 from behind the arc, and actually broke the Kings’ franchise 3-PT FG record in just three quarters of play. That is to say, he joins Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson (3x), Zach Lavine, Stephen Curry (2x), Donyell Marshall, and Kobe Bryant as the only players ever to make a dozen 3’s in one game. To point out, Murray also reached this mark with the fewest attempts in NBA history, as he was 12-of-13 from long range after three quarters, and finished with only 15 3-point attempts. Not to mention, he is also the youngest player to make 12 3’s in a game (23 years old, 119 days), with this record being previously held by Kobe, who was 24 years old.
Curry, who made 12 3’s in a game twice throughout his career, was shocked when reporters broke the news to him about Murray’s historical performance, “He did what!?” Curry shouted. “12-of-13 is nuts.” Notably, Murray missed his final two 3-point attempts which would have tied him with Klay’s NBA record of 14.
Must be remembered also, in another performance, Klay put up 37 points, making 9-of-13 3-PT field goals, in the third quarter vs. the Kings back in 2015. Thereupon, Murray seemed to have replicated that third quarter magic, as he was in a zone going seven-for-seven from deep, which set a franchise record for most made three-pointers in a single quarter. In fact, Murray actually matched the amount of points the whole Jazz team scored in the third quarter, 26. This means, Murray also broke the franchise record for most points in a quarter, which has remained unbroken since December 15, 1995, when Mitch Richmond put up 25 points in the fourth quarter against the Houston Rockets in a 114-110 Kings’ win.
To note also, the Kings’ three-point field goal record for one game was previously held by Buddy Hield, who made 11-of-21 three-point shots against the Celtics on November 25, 2019.
Undoubtedly during Murray’s record-breaking historical performance, the second-year player was locked in, seemingly being able to make a shot most from almost anywhere in the Golden 1 Center, “It reminded me of last year or in college when I would get on a roll,” Murray stated after the game. “I kind of blacked out for a bit.” Notably, as the fourth pick in the 2022 draft out of Iowa, Murray’s best collegiate performance came when he tied a Big Ten Tournament single game record with eight made 3-pointers, going 8-for-10 from deep vs. Indiana on March 12, 2022.
So far throughout his NBA career, appearing in 100 games, Murray has been averaging 13 points per game on 40% 3-PT shooting, nevertheless, coach Mike Brown stated that we still haven’t seen the 23-year-old’s full potential yet, “Two, three, four years from now, woah. You’re going to really see something out of this young man,” Brown stated. “He’s just barely scratching the surface.”
On a night where the Kings were without their star guard De’Aaron Fox (shoulder), Murray and the rest of the team certainly stepped up. That is to say, Murray finished the night with a statline of 47 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals, while his teammate Domantas Sabonis recorded his 20th double-double of the season, grabbing 10 rebounds, dishing out eight assists, and scoring 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field. The Kings have now won four out of their last five games, and with a 15-9 record, are only four games back of first place in the Western Conference.
