South Carolina basketball product Collin Murray-Boyles has historic NBA Playoff performance
South Carolina basketball product (and Columbia native) Collin Murray-Boyles was the No. 9 in last offseason’s NBA Draft. The Toronto Raptors selected him after two years with the Gamecocks. National opinions seemed to be that the Raptors would continue their rebuild and that Murray-Boyles’ rookie year would be a developmental one.
Both the team and its top rookie outperformed those expectations in a big way. The Raptors earned the Eastern Conference’s No. 5 seed, and Murray-Boyles showcased himself as an impact player.
That success continued on Thursday night.
The Raptors knocked off the Cleveland Cavaliers in game three of their first-round NBA Playoff series. In a way that was much more “causation” than “coincidence,” Murray-Boyles logged a historic performance.
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As one of three main stars for Toronto (along with Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett), Murray-Boyles posted a stat line that included 22 points on 11-for-15 shooting, eight rebounds (five on offense), two assists, one steal, and one block.
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Murray-Boyles also played elite defense, blocked a dunk attempt from All-Star Jarett Allen, denied a James Harden-to-Evan Mobley lob attempt, and threw down his own big dunk in transition. In the win, he finished with a +21 +/- in 28 overall minutes on the floor.
With his performance, CMB became the first Toronto Raptors rookie to score 20 points in a postseason contest. Former great players like Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, Damon Stoudamire, and Marcus Camby never accomplished what Murray-Boyles did.
In fact, Murray-Boyles became the first NBA rookie in almost 20 years to score at least 20 points in a playoff game on 70% shooting efficiency. More impressively, he became the third player ever under the age of 21 to register those numbers in the postseason. He joined Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson and San Antonio Spurs great Tony Parker in that regard.