The season that belongs to the Spurs is over.
In the playoffs, the Spurs lost to the Pelicans 103-113, suffered a elimination, the first quarter of the game began the Spurs still led 8-2, but the Pelicans soon played a 24-14 counterattack, at the end of the half, the Spurs have been 50-61 behind 11 points, and then the Spurs did not catch up, at most 21 points behind, can only swallow the last defeat of the season.
In this key battle, the Spurs' young core Dezhang Tai Murray played abnormally, the whole game, Murray played a total of 34 minutes, shooting 5 of 19, 5 of 5 three-pointers, 5 of 5 free throws, only 16 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.
Murray scored only four points on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half, and the Spurs trailed the Pelicans by double digits; in the crucial final quarter, Murray was still sluggish, scoring only 5 points in the 7-of-7 single quarter and failing to respond.
Pull, it is true to pull, but Murray's poor performance is indeed for a reason - Murray suffered from upper respiratory tract disease at the end of March, for which he missed five games, lost 7 pounds of weight, and did not rush to come back until the last game of the regular season, and the return to that game was also poor, shooting 5 of 15 in the whole game, only 17 points, 1 rebound and 7 assists.
In fact, the Spurs' ability to make the playoffs this season is a very unexpected thing in itself, and looking back on their season, Murray is probably the biggest gain.
Throughout the season, Murray played in 68 games for the Spurs, averaging 34.8 minutes per game, 21.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 9.2 assists and 2.0 steals, 26.8% of the ball, and his steals ranked first in the league and fourth in assists.
For comparison, last season Murray's average per game was 15.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.5 steals, and the use of the ball was 23.1% - the season that DeRozan left, Murray's growth can be said to be obvious to all, his points, assists all rose, and he was also selected as an All-Star, and there is no doubt that Murray will be the future of the Spurs.
It should be said that Murray has averaged only 2.6 turnovers per game this season, and apart from him, the assists/turnovers of the top six players in terms of assists are:
Paul, 10.8 assists/2.4 turnovers
— Harden, 10.3 assists/4.4 turnovers
— Trae Young, 9.7 assists/4.0 turnovers
— Doncic, 8.7 assists/4.5 turnovers
— Garland, 8.6 assists/3.6 turnovers
Although not as good as Paul, Murray's ability to control mistakes is definitely worth affirming, even in the past two poor games, Murray's total number of mistakes is "no more than" 4 times.
In addition, Murray was the second player in NBA history to average "20 points + 8 rebounds + 8 assists + 2 steals" per game in a single season, and the first person to do so was called Michael Jordan, who averaged 32.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 2.9 steals per game in the 1988-89 season.
Still, Murray's offensive efficiency is not very good, this season his shooting rate is only 46.2%, three-point shooting rate of 32.7%, true shooting rate of 53.3% - Murray's personal offensive efficiency since entering the league has not been good, 53.3% this season is a career high, but still below the league average.
On the bright side, Murray's pre-illness performance is actually on the rise:
In January, he averaged 22.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and 9.9 assists per game, shooting 53.3% from the field.
— In February, he averaged 23.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 10.8 assists per game, shooting 58.2 percent from the field.
- In March, he averaged 25.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game, shooting 57.5% from the field.
So without one game and two games, Murray is entirely possible to deliver a better performance in the play-offs, but unfortunately, a game-winning format does not allow any deviation, and his season with the Spurs is over.
Still, this season has been a great success for Murray.
In addition to being selected as an All-Star, Murray also hopes to compete for the fastest improving player, but this season's competition for this award is extremely motivating, including Morant, Bain, Bridges, Poole have made a lot of progress, the Spurs record is slightly disadvantaged, and the possibility of actual election is not so high.
In the post-match press conference, Murray said that he will continue to improve himself in the offseason and make himself better - for a player whose cruciate ligament has been torn, Murray's performance this season has been very amazing, step by step, next season, continue to rise.