Utah Jazz @ Sacramento Kings
Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 10:00 PM ET
Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA | Game ID: 22300342
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
SAC 35 27 44 19 125UTA 23 27 26 28 104
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Keegan Murray makes 12 3-pointers, scores career-high 47 points to lead Kings past Jazz, 125-104
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- — Keegan Murray made 12 3-pointers, two shy of the NBA record, and scored a career-high 47 points in the Sacramento Kings ' 125-104 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.
Murray scored a franchise-record 26 points in the third quarter and had Klay Thompson’s NBA record of 14 3-pointers in his sights after making 12 of his first 13 attempts. But the second-year forward missed his final two attempts from behind the arc while becoming the seventh different player to make 12 or more 3s in a game.
“I thought Keegan was playing the right way,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “There was nothing really forced. Our guys didn’t really force anything to him. They just hit him when he was open.”
Domantas Sabonis added 20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, his seventh straight double-double and 20th this season. The Kings shot 22 of 45 from the 3-point line, the third time this season Sacramento made at least 20.
Colin Sexton scored 28 points Utah, and Lauri Markkanen had 18.
Sacramento took control in the third quarter, outscoring the Jazz 44-26. Murray broke the franchise record of 25 points in a quarter set by Mitch Richmond in the fourth period against Houston on Dec. 15, 1995.
“It kind of reminded me of my last year in college,” Murray said. “I’d get hot and I would just blackout for a little bit, and so everything would just go in. That’s kind of what happened in the third quarter.”
The Kings took their biggest lead of the game after Murray hit his 12th 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the third quarter with a 106-76 lead.
“Keegan never let us off the hook,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “Every time you make a mistake, he makes the shot. The percentages will tell you, you know, that’s not necessarily realistic either, but it was one of those nights. And he’s obviously a very good young player and hats off to him.”
Murray scored 19 points in the first half as Sacramento led 62-50 going into the intermission.
“He’s just barely scratching the surface because he’s been asked to do something that he’s never been asked to do at the highest level,” Brown said. With his work ethic, his determination, his skill set and all that other stuff, he’s gotten a chance to be a high level player in a lot of different areas. Everybody’s just seeing a little bit of it now so there’s a ton of room to grow for sure.”
Sacramento starting point guard De’Aaron Fox was out with right shoulder irritation. Utah guard Jordan Clarkson missed his third straight game with a right hamstring strain and John Collins missed his fourth straight game with an illness.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
SACAV A. Vezenkov
CD C. Duarte
DM D. Mitchell
DS D. Sabonis
HB H. Barnes
JM J. McGee
JT J. Toscano-Anderson
KE K. Ellis
KH K. Huerter
KM K. Murray
MM M. Monk
TL T. Lyles
UTACS C. Sexton
JJ J. Juzang
KD K. Dunn
KO K. Olynyk
LM L. Markkanen
MP M. Potter
OA O. Agbaji
SF S. Fontecchio
TH T. Hendricks
TH T. Horton-Tucker
WK W. Kessler
SAC/UTA the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur