Hawks in the NBA: Keegan Murray Bounces Back

Nov 17, 2022 - 9:01 PM

Keegan hits his fourth week in the NBA and we learn some scary personal news with his family.

Keegan Murray

After the Kings 120-114 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, we learned of some difficult news from the Murray family. Kenyon Murray tweeted this after the Lakers game in which Keegan scored 2 points and had some wondering if Keegan was ok:

While at the game??? Scary stuff, and far more important than whatever will follow here. Hopefully Kenyon’s mother is doing ok and recovers.

As for Keegan, he bounced back with maybe his best game of the season, a 21-point effort in Sacramento’s 122-115 win over Golden State, ending a 7-game losing streak to the Warriors. Here’s Keegan’s line:

Let’s look at a few highlights. Look at him coming off this screen and launching. Wow.

Here, he and fellow Iowan Harrison Barnes run a 2-man break, ending in a Keegan dunk.

He was good enough for Draymond Green to say this. When he isn’t punching his own teammates, Green is as smart as they come in the NBA so this is high praise. Turn your volume up, as it’s a little hard to hear at first:

The Kings then played the permanently sideways Brooklyn Nets Tuesday night, a national TV game for the Kings after having none last year. Keegan started well with a couple of buckets in the opening exchanges.

Keegan was clearly in the Nets scout, as they stuck to him closely on the perimeter and at one point, Kevin Durant was on Keegan. Unfortunately, Keegan’s night came to a premature end as he injured a back muscle slipping near half-court in the second quarter. The injury was not thought to be serious and sitting him was precautionary. The floor looked slippery more than once on the Nets end of the court, as two Kings players slipped at one point shortly after Keegan exited the proceedings (Demontas Sabonis and another player I’m forgetting slipped within 2 seconds of one another gathering a rebound on a missed Nets jumper).

Gambling corner: If there was a game to miss time due to a minor injury, it was this one, as the Kings got the blow torch out for the Nets in a 153-121 demolition of a game. 153 points! The game was tied at 40 (around the time Keegan left), but the Kings ended the half on a 33-14 run and at one point made 10-straight field goals. I turned it off at 103-68 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter. The Kings were so good in the first half Charles Barkley proclaimed that TNT should broadcast more Kings games at the expense of the Lakers. I nodded in agreement.

The win pushed the Kings over .500 for the first time this year, moving to 7-6. The win also moved their winning streak to 4 games, the first time they have done that since the 2020-21 season. They won 4 consecutive that year...then promptly lost 9-straight. That seems unlikely with this team, as they can straight up cook offensively. They are going to roast a good number of teams this year. It’s way too early to talk about this, but the Kings currently sit in a play-in spot.

FYI - Johnny Davis now resides in the G League. We’ve been on the F-ing case for awhile now.

Luka Garza

Luka Garza made the move from the Iowa Wolves to the Minnesota Timberwolves after last week’s story was published. He’s been with the big league Wolves for two games now, a 114-103 loss at Memphis and a 129-124 win in Cleveland. Unfortunately, Garza did not play in those games and was transferred back to Des Moines on his 2-way deal.

Up Next:

Sacramento continues their mini-home stand with San Antonio and Detroit before a quick trip east, playing at Memphis November 22, Atlanta November 23, and Boston November 25.