Solid Start Changes Murray’s Playoff Mind-Set

In the week before Thanksgiving last year, King Coach Andy Murray set the table: To make the playoffs, he told a floundering group about to fall six games below .500, the Kings would need 93 points, 80 in their last 64 games.

They qualified with 95, but 93 would have been sufficient.

This season, the Kings having maintained a record above .500 through the season’s first two months despite a rash of injuries to key players and a demanding road schedule, Murray has made no such pronouncements.

If he has a point goal in mind, he’s not ready to share it.

“Last year,” he said, “we felt we had to spell it out exactly and say, ‘This is how many wins we have to get, this is how many points we have to get,’ because we were at the bottom. We were in trouble.

“Our winning percentage the rest of the year had to be so high, but we might as well face that and say, ‘We can’t waste another game.’ I don’t think we’re in that situation where we have to say, ‘This is how many points you have to have.’ ”

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Center Brad Chartrand, with one point in his last 23 games, was scratched Saturday. for the first time in 62 games since he was recalled from the minors in January.

--Jerry Crowe