Hawks' Dejounte Murray: 'I Know Kobe Would Be Proud of Me' After 44 Shots vs. Celtics

Dejounte Murray had a big night on Thursday, scoring 44 points while adding seven rebounds, seven assists, two steals and a block in Atlanta's 123-122 overtime win against the Boston Celtics.

Oh, and he hit the game-winning shot, too:

It was one of 44 field-goal attempts Murray attempted in the game—yes, you read that correctly—and while Hawks star admitted he didn't want to shoot so often, he thought the late Kobe Bryant might be proud of the effort.

"These are the games I want to be a part of," he said on the postgame broadcast. "And I still feel like I played awful. I don't wanna take that many shots, but I know Kobe would be proud of me. But at the end of the day we competed at a high level, until the end, and we got a great team win."

Bryant was no stranger to hoisting up a boatload of shots himself—according to Zach Harper of The Athletic, Bryant had six games with 44 or more field-goal attempts:

His Los Angeles Lakers went just 3-3 in the games where he put up 44 or more attempts, though one of them included his iconic 81-point performance against the Toronto Raptors in the 2005-06 season.

The Hawks needed every last point from Murray to keep pace with the East-leading Celtics. If it took 44 shots to get them, well, so be it.