Start watching Seattle’s Ronald Murray

On Tuesday, Murray knocked down a fade-away jumper at the buzzer to give the Sonics an 89-87 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center. The win improved Seattle’s record to 4-1.

"They gave me a 1-4 clearout, so I was able to go one-on-one and get a shot up, " Murray said after his game-winning shot. "I got the shot up and it went in. It felt like Latrell Sprewell was trying to force me left, so I took it. He played good defense and it was a contested shot, but it just fell in for me."

Murray finished Tuesday’s game 9-of-18 from the floor and 11-of-12 from the foul line for a career-high 29 points in 35 minutes of action. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out a team-high eight assists.

"Murray was unbelievable," said Minnesota head coach Flip Saunders. "He made big plays. At the end, he scored six straight, made his free throws and had two big assists to James. He was the difference-maker in the game. He was averaging 24 coming in. A lot of you have never heard of him, but you better learn who he is. He’s for real. He showed tonight that he’s legitimate. The thing I saw tonight was how much confidence he played with. It never waned."

The 24-year-old Murray is virtually an unknown in the circles of the NBA. He was selected out of Shaw, a Division II school, by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round (42nd pick overall) of the 2002 NBA Draft. He is a former Division II player of the year.

After playing in just 12 games and averaging 1.9 points for the Bucks during last season, Murray was dealt in February 2003 to the Sonics along with Ray Allen, Kevin Ollie, and draft considerations for Gary Payton and Desmond Mason.

"I feel like I can get around anybody in the league" Murray said on being an unknown player. "I feel like I’m quick enough, and I try to take what the defense gives me. It doesn’t matter that no one in the arena knows who I am. They’ll know who I am in time."

So far this season, Murray, who has started all five games for Seattle, is tied with Rashard Lewis as Seattle’s top scorer (24.6 ppg), is second on the team in assists (4.8 apg) and is pulling down a respectable 5.2 rebounds per- game.

"We knew he could get to the basket, but Coach (Saunders) told us he was a guy that looks to score," Minnesota guard/forward Sprewell said about Murray after Tuesday’s game. "I think the thing that hurt us most was his ability to get in the paint and create for other guys. He made some excellent passes out there."

Keep watching Murray. It will be interesting to see how this story progresses.