Dejounte Murray has come up with a sure-fire cure to the 3-point shooting woes that have plagued his team in May.
After missing all three of his attempts from distance in the Spurs’ 124-102 loss at Portland on Saturday, leaving him 0-for-the-month, Murray is clear on what he needs to do to pull himself out of his funk.
“I’ve got to knock that (expletive) down,” Murray said.
If it is any consolation to Murray — and it is not — the 24-year-old point guard is not the only Spurs player who could stand to heed that advice.
As the Spurs prepare for the final week of the regular season with a Western Conference play-in berth well within their grasp, they appear to have suffered a power outage from 3-point range at the worst possible time.
The Spurs face Milwaukee on Monday at the AT&T Center, fresh off a 1-3 road trip in which they went 24 of 93 from 3-point range, a paltry 25.8 percent.
“We just ain’t making nothing, starting with me,” said Murray, who is 0 of 11 in four games this month. “We just got to knock them down, starting with the whole team, and encourage each other to shoot it.”
Over the past decade or so, the 3-pointer has become the most important shot in basketball. Teams who can’t make them consistently struggle to win.
The Spurs were outscored from 3-point range on each game of the road trip. The 8-for-30 night they endured in Portland was their most prolific long-range night of the four-game stretch.
It was something of a miracle the Spurs won the one game they did on the trip, beating Sacramento 113-104 despite going 4 of 22 from beyond the arc.
It is an area the Spurs will have to improve if and when they wind up in the play-in tournament, especially if they are paired against Stephen Curry and Golden State.
“That’s a lot of shots we’ve gotten,” forward DeMar DeRozan said. “We’ve had countless opportunities to make open shots. They just didn’t fall. When they don’t fall, it’s definitely frustrating.”
In 2018-19, the Spurs led the NBA in 3-point accuracy at 39.2 percent but ranked 26th in 3-pointers made with 812.
That roster featured three players who attempted at least 100 3-point goals and shot better than 40 percent — Davis Bertans (42.8 percent), Bryn Forbes (42.6 percent) and Rudy Gay (40.2 percent).
Patty Mills was not far off, at 39.4 percent.
Bertans was traded to Washington in the summer of 2019 in an ill-fated attempt to sign Marcus Morris as a free agent.
Forbes was allowed to walk last offseason and is shooting a career-best 44.9 percent from 3-point land for the Bucks team that visits the AT&T Center on Monday.
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This season, the Spurs are neither making 3-pointers at a particularly high clip (35.2 percent, tied for 21st in the NBA) or in high quantities (674, 29th in the league).
That trouble was exacerbated on the Spurs’ recent road trip, when they faced the NBA’s two most prolific 3-point shooting teams and were routed twice by Utah and once by Portland.
“You just have to keep pushing,” DeRozan said. “It happens. We can’t let it get to us. We just have to keep going.”
The reasons for the Spurs’ 3-point deficiency are myriad.
Having guard Derrick White in and out of the lineup all season before losing him for good to an ankle sprain April 24 hasn’t helped.
White wasn’t having his best year from 3-point range at 34.6 percent, but he often creates open looks around the arc for others.
“He’s a great decision-maker,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “He makes a lot of things happen, so it makes it a little more difficult for us (not having him).”
White was also one of the Spurs’ most accurate 3-point shooters despite his mediocre percentage, and that is also part of the problem.
Of the regulars in the Spurs rotation, Gay leads with a 38.4 percent clip from 3-point range.
Since the All-Star break, Gay is at 39.9.
The Spurs’ next-most-accurate 3-point marksman in that span is Lonnie Walker IV, at 36.5 percent.
Also hampering the Spurs is an untimely drought by Mills, perhaps regarded as the team’s top remaining 3-point shooter.
In the seven games since White’s season-ending injury, Mills has gone 6 of 30 from distance.
Rookie Devin Vassell, who profiles as a future 40 percent 3-point shooter, has made 6 of 22 in that stretch.
Then there is Murray, who has not made a 3-point goal since going 2 for 2 in an overtime loss at Boston on April 30.
“I work on it, and I am confident,” Murray said. “I know that I am a better 3-point shooter than my percentage.”
Murray is in the throes of a career season, averaging 15.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.4 assists. He has posted four triple-doubles.
Murray has become deadly from 2-point range, making a career-best 49 percent. His 3-point game hasn’t quite come along for the ride.
He is converting only 31.8 percent on three attempts per game.
“I’ve got a long offseason (ahead),” Murray said. “I already know what I am going to lock in and do. The work you put in, you are going to get out.”
In the meantime, the Spurs are headed down the home stretch of the season hoping to postpone their offseason by an extra game or more.
It would help if they could start knocking that (expletive) down from 3-point range now.
jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN
