‘MAMBA MENTALITY’
Murray draws inspiration from Kobe for latest triple-double
For 40 hours or so, give or take and off and on, Dejounte Murray sat with his sore left ankle on ice.
Having sprained it in the opening minute of the Spurs’ defeat against Dallas on Friday, Murray wasn’t sure he would be able to take the floor in Sunday’s bounce-back game against Washington until sometime close to tipoff.
In the end, Murray’s availability came down to the answer to a single question: WWKD?
“I watched a lot of Kobe stuff and said, ‘What would Kobe do?’ ” Murray said. “It’s just an ankle sprain.”
Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s death in a California helicopter crash. Though the NBA has made no formal mention of the upcoming date, the former Los Angeles Lakers star has clearly been on the minds of many players.
For instance, it is no stretch to say Bryant — who once famously made a pair of free throws on a ruptured Achilles tendon — inspired the Spurs’ latest triple-double.
With Bryant on his brain, Murray shook off his throbbing ankle to not only return to the Spurs’ starting lineup Sunday but to post 11 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a 121-101 victory over the Wizards.
“When (the ankle sprain) happened, the next day I tried to tell myself not to think about it and honestly just have the ‘Mamba Mentality,’ ” Murray said, again making reference to Bryant. “I amped up my treatment. I was in the gym for hours and at home icing it. I didn’t think about it, so I could just go out and compete.”
Murray ended with the second triple-double of his career and his second of the season, joining an 11-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist performance in the
Spurs’ Dec. 26 win over Toronto.
That alone puts the 25-year-old Murray in elite company in Spurs history. He is the club’s first player to post multiple triple-doubles in the same season since David Robinson had four during the 1993-94 campaign.
Only six Spurs in team annals have posted more than one triple-double in their career with the team: Robinson (14), Alvin Robertson (eight), Johnny Moore (six), Tim Duncan (four), Larry Kenon (two) and now Murray.
Likewise, the six NBA players to have posted multiple tripledoubles this season are all Allstars: Luka Doncic, Russell Westbrook, Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden and Ben Simmons. Now, add Murray to that list. “He’s a young player and he’s doing amazing stuff,” guard Lonnie Walker IV said. “This is what the Spurs expected, and this is something I knew he had all along.”
Odds are good Sunday’s tripledouble will not be Murray’s last.
For point guards, the tricky portion of the equation is usually the rebounding. That happens to be one of Murray’s strongest suits. At 6-foot-5 and with arms that seem to stretch from the AT&T Center to Helotes, Murray has already posted 20 doubledigit career rebounding nights — the most for a point guard in team history.
In 2017-18, Murray grabbed 459 total rebounds, a single-season record for a Spurs point guard. He entered Monday’s game at New Orleans as the Spurs’ second-leading rebounder this season at 7.1 per game.
“He’s had that natural inclination since we first saw him, when he was playing in college (at Washington),” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Point guards aren’t really known for blocking out in the first place. With that length and nose for the ball, he ends up being a good rebounder.”
Murray’s veteran teammates have been impressed with how far he has come since the Spurs made him the 29th overall pick in the 2016 draft.
Patty Mills, the team’s longesttenured player, insists Murray’s strides go beyond the increasingly gaudy double-digit statistics he is producing.
“More impressive than the numbers is how his IQ for the game has grown,” Mills said. “His understanding of the different angles, how to get people shots, how to get his own shots, what to do coming off the screen, drawing a defender to get someone else open. Those things impress me the most.”
Late in Sunday’s contest, with the Spurs pulling away from the game but overmatched Wizards, Mills benefited from Murray’s newfound floor game.
Murray went into the final four minutes needing two assists to get his triple-double. He was aware of this information — inasmuch as his teammates kept bringing it up — but tried not to let it affect his approach to closing the game.
“They told me about it when we had a timeout,” Murray said. “I just tried to play. I know with my style what I’m capable of doing.”
With 3:45 remaining, Murray found an open Mills for a 3-pointer and assist No. 9.
On the Spurs’ next possession, Murray collected a loose ball and scampered to the offensive end, where he again hit Mills in transition for a 3-pointer. Murray might have been aware of what was at stake with Mills’ long ball. Mills was not.
“I wish I could say I was that good of a teammate,” Mills said with a laugh.
Mills’ final swish gave Murray his final assist. It also gave the Spurs a 19-point lead the Wizards had no hope of erasing.
That accomplished, Murray now owns more triple-doubles than anyone else in the Spurs’ locker room. He was quickly reminded he does not own more triple-doubles than everyone present at the AT&T Center on Sunday.
Only 148 more to catch Westbrook, the Wizards guard and NBA’S all-time active triple-double king, someone mentioned after the game. Murray responded with one word that came out almost as a grunt.
“Jeez,” Murray said, his eyes widening.
Indeed, Westbrook’s mark might well be out of Murray’s grasp. The odds might be better of Westbrook passing Oscar Robertson’s 181 triple-doubles for the NBA’S career record than of Murray catching Westbrook.
Still, Murray would be lying if he said more triple-doubles were not a goal. And if that’s a goal, he might as well try to do it bigger and better than anyone.
After all, it’s what Kobe would do.