SAN FRANCISCO -- Kings coach Mike Brown knew early on that rookie Keegan Murray was special, and it didn’t take long for that feeling to be reciprocated.
The bond between the two truly is one of a kind, and the significance of it was displayed in the most important game of Murray’s young NBA career thus far.
In the first three contests of Sacramento’s first-round NBA playoff series with the Golden State Warriors, Murray’s playoff debut shooting slump worsened in Game 2 and then slightly improved in Game 3. After each game, though, Brown continued to encourage the 22-year-old to keep “letting that thing fly.”
If he didn’t, there would be consequences.
“I tell him to keep shooting the ball,” Brown said after Kings practice on Saturday, one day before Game 4 at Chase Center. “He knows he’s got to keep shooting the ball. And when he doesn’t, that’s when I’m going to cuss him out.”
Brown probably was only halfway joking, but he has been on Murray’s case all season with the perfect blend of accountability and learning lessons mixed with compassion and understanding.
“He’s got to shoot the ball because he’s a great shooter,” Brown continued. “He’s got to figure out ways to get open. On top of that, he’s got to do a bunch of other things. He’s shown the ability to defend. He’s shown the ability to rebound.
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“So he’s got to continue to do those things and not drop his head at all.”
Murray’s teammates wouldn’t let him drop his head, either. Breaking the NBA’s all-time rookie 3-point record 17 days before Game 1 might have helped, too.
“Yeah, I continue to encourage him, even throughout the game,” Kings star point guard De’Aaron Fox said after Game 3. “It's difficult, especially for a rookie playing big minutes for us all season.
“I mean, he broke the 3-point record for a reason. So we know he's skilled. We know he can play. Obviously, the physicality and everything has risen, the intensity of the game has risen. He struggled a bit, but for us, we want him to get going. We’re not going to take that away from him.”
It’s no secret that Fox is a great teammate. He leads by example and has grown to become a more vocal leader of this young and mostly inexperienced team.
But it’s Fox’s former Kentucky teammate, Malik Monk, who has been uplifting the rookie since Day 1.
“I think Malik’s been really good for me, just him having confidence in me every time I go to the bench,” Murray said Saturday. “Every time I take a shot, he’s been really key for me not just during the playoffs, but all year. He’s been one of the guys I’ve leaned on for sure.”
After shooting a collective 3 of 13 (23 percent) from the field and 1 of 8 (12.5 percent) from behind the arc in his first trio of postseason appearances, Murray listened to his teammates and his coach because, well, he had no other choice, but also because he, too, knew his time was coming.
“I feel like I'm due,” he said Saturday, with a slight grin across his face.
Less than 24 hours later, Murray entered Game 4 with that same poise and confidence he carries with him at all times. On Sunday, though, another one of his qualities, patience, came into play.
In the first half alone, Murray had more points (15) than he did in the first three games of the series combined (10). He finished with a personal-playoff-high 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field and made five of his seven 3-point attempts, also grabbing seven boards.
His five treys made him the 11th rookie in NBA history with five or more 3s in a playoff game.
Although the Kings lost by one point in a nail-biter, Murray is gaining an experience that Brown refers to as “invaluable." It also goes to show that Murray’s evolution on the court is a reflection of his relationship with Brown off of it.
“Yeah, he’s been on my tail the last couple of days,” Murray said after his impressive showing in the Kings’ Game 4 loss. “Just to be more aggressive on the offensive end because the last couple of games I’ve kind of been, I wouldn’t say a liability, but not as good as I have. But he has full confidence in me, he just needed to show me that and tell me that these last couple of days when we had time to practice.
“He’s the Coach of the Year for a reason and I wouldn’t want to have any other coach.”
After the game, Brown said it was nice to see Murray’s shots start falling. And after the rookie didn’t hesitate to shoot the ball, it saved him from receiving any cussing out by his coach. For now.
“Look, Keegan’s a rookie and he’s starting. You have to understand that he gets no passes,” Brown said postgame. “He’s got to bring it like everybody else and if he’s not bringing it like everybody else, he’s going to hear it from me.
“Keegan’s got a chance to be a great player in this league, and i thought he stepped up tonight and showed why he’s first-team All-rookie. He’s the only rookie in the lottery that is still playing and playing a significant role for his team.
“And he tonight, almost helped us get over the hump. So I got no complaints with the way he played tonight.”
They say opposites attract, right? Murray is quiet. Poised. Reserved. Laid back. Coach Brown might be the dictionary definition of the exact opposite. That's why when Murray earned the Kings' iconic iced-out Defensive Player of the Game chain in the past, Brown used it as the perfect opportunity to poke fun at the rookie and his lack of "swag." And all Murray could do was laugh.
The dynamic clearly works, and it's exciting to know that this is just the beginning of this coach-player duo.
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Just a few feet away from where Brown was speaking to the media, Monk was in the locker room also speaking to reporters with a big brother-like pride for Murray.
“That’s Keeg, man,” Monk said. “But I stay on him, I never let him get down. I never let him hang his head down. I think that’s one of my jobs to keep his head up high.
“So I’m going to continue to do that, but that’s Keegan being Keegan.”
This team loves their rookie. And, although it might have taken him a bit to show it, he loves them right back.
"This is just really new for him -- it’s new for a lot of our guys, but this is really new for him," Brown said. "We love him and we’re going to have patience with him and we're going to give him a chance to succeed. But he's got to go through growing pains in order to figure it out.”
With the best-of-seven series tied at two wins apiece and heading back to Sacramento for Game 5, the Kings will need their rookie to do what Brown, Fox, Monk, and himself know he can do. And when he does, it'll be only a matter of time before his last name continuously erupts inside Golden 1 Center.