SAN ANTONIO -- Dejounte Murray, the San Antonio Spurs' second-year man, is making his mark as a first-year starter.
On Monday night, he registered eight rebounds during a 89-75 win over the Golden State Warriors to set the franchise record for rebounds in a season by a point guard.
Named the starting point guard in January, Murray has tallied 385 rebounds in 1,436 minutes to surpass Johnny Moore's record of 378 boards, collected over a span of 2,689 minutes during the 1984-85 season.
"I take pride in my game. I'm just getting better," Murray said. "I'm learning. I'm a gym rat. I want to be great in every aspect. Yeah, [rebounding] it's natural to me. Growing up, at the park, I always wanted the ball. I was little. My uncles were older. So being the little guy, you've got to go get it."
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich named Murray the starter over veteran Tony Parker on Jan. 21, and he has started in 36 games after playing a total of 36 outings as a rookie during the 201-17 season due to injuries. Murray played 8.5 minutes per game as a rookie, but now averages 20.4 minutes to go with 5.5 rebounds per game.
Murray collected 12 rebounds to go with 18 points Thursday against the Pelicans, giving him the franchise record for the most career games with double-digit rebounds by a Spurs guard, another record previously held by Moore. Murray has produced 10 career games with 10 rebounds or more.
Veteran power forward LaMarcus Aldridge was asked whether he has played with a better rebounding guard.
"No, I haven't," Aldridge said. "He's pretty athletic. He has a nose for the ball. He goes and gets them. That's big-time for him. He's only going to get better from here."