Calvin Murphy

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Calvin Murphy

Calvin Jerome Murphy (born September 5, 1948 in Norwalk , Connecticut , United States ) is a retired American basketball player for the San Diego Rockets and Houston Rockets in the NBA . Murphy holds several free throw records and is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame .

Career

Murphy was drawn 18th in the 1970 NBA draft by the San Diego Rockets. He quickly established himself as a starting point guard and immediately scored 16 points and 6 assists per game. Murphy joined the NBA all-rookie team of the best newcomers and impressed with his enormous hit rate: he consistently hit 45% of his throws and an excellent 85% of his free throws, a rate that he has achieved over the course of his career on the NBA record of over 96% increased. After moving to Houston, he gradually increased to 21 points and 7 templates per game. Despite his small basketball height of 1.75 meters (he was partly 15 centimeters shorter than his opponents), Murphy was considered a very good defensive player because he could often take the ball away from his opponent with his fast hands: he had two seasons with over 150 steals.

With the Rockets, Murphy reached the playoffs several times at the side of Rudy Tomjanovich and Moses Malone and the Eastern Conference Finals in 1977, but where they failed at the Philadelphia 76ers . 1981 Murphy came to the Rockets in the NBA Finals, but defeated in six games against the Boston Celtics of Larry Bird , which the now 32 years old Murphy despite 18 points and 3 assists per game could not prevent. He played until 1984 when he resigned at the age of 34. The Rockets withdrew his number 23 forever as a thank you. With 17,949 points and 1,002 games for both incarnations of this team (San Diego and Houston), he is the second greatest Rockets player of all time after Hakeem Olajuwon . In 1993 he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Calvin Murphy received the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 1979 for his social commitment .

After his career, Murphy became a commentator and analyst on radio and television broadcasts of the Rockets games. Today he works in the same role at ESPN .

Style of play

Murphy is still the smallest NBA player in the Basketball Hall of Fame at just 1.75 meters. He earned the respect of his contemporaries because, despite this handicap, he became a star in the NBA. "He was like a bantamweight who dared to make his living with the heavyweights," said Rockets teammate Major Jones on behalf of Murphy.

Murphy was also known for his unique hit rate from the free throw line. His career free throws rate of 89.1% is the fifth highest of all time, and in one season (1980–81) he hit a staggering 96% of his free throws, which is still the second highest rate in a season. This year he met u. a. also 78 free throws in a row, which is now number 3 in the all-time list of these statistics.

Private life

Murphy had an eventful personal life. He was married to Vernetta, with whom he had two daughters and a son, but in total he is said to have 14 children from 9 women. Murphy was charged with alleged sexual abuse of 5 of his illegitimate children in 2004, but all charges were ultimately dropped.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ nba.com page "He was like a bantamweight who dared to make his living in the heavyweight division."
  2. ^ Sexual assault trial begins for Calvin Murphy , USA Today . November 5, 2004. Retrieved August 30, 2007. 
  3. ^ Andrew Tilghman: Calvin Murphy's family under scrutiny at trial. Murphy's large family tree falls under scrutiny at trial. 5 accusing him of abuse have 3 different mothers. On: Houston Chronicle website; Houston, TX, November 6, 2004. Retrieved February 23, 2019 (in English).
personal data
SURNAME Murphy, Calvin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Murphy, Calvin Jerome (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American basketball player
DATE OF BIRTH September 5, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Norwalk , Connecticut, USA