When Yaxel Lendeborg decided it would be a good idea to start a war of words with Luka Dončić and after his first NBA career game, basically calling the Lakers superstar a flopping crybaby for whom he lost all respect. Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr had the same message for the rookie.
“Now you have to give it back.”
Friday night was Lendeborg’s chance to act as Dončić’s Warriors and the Lakers watched for the opening group of the NBA Cup. Not, to put it mildly, well for Lendeborg, who posted the worst mark of his youth with six points, one rebound, no assists and five turnovers.
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Lendeborg got into foul trouble early on and was never a factor in either side. For a guy who injected so much juice into what looked like an old, wasted, almost lifeless Warriors team when he faced the same teams on opening night, Lendeborg was almost invisible in his performance as he played less than twenty-five minutes in those 24 minutes before the relegators.
When asked what lesson he had taken from such an effect, after shining such a bow on himself with Luka’s comments, and what he would have done differently then, Lendeborg, while showing the same inhuman dignity throughout, said that he “didn’t wet the bed like I did.”
Meanwhile, Dončić – who in “Luka sucks!” Chant coming from the Chase Center crowd early in the morning – poured in 21 first-quarter points en route to a 37 game. Seven rebounds, five assists, two blocks and a steal for good measure. The entire Warriors team poured into the first half as if they were the Lakers to take a 20 point first half lead.
Sure, everything you’ve read suggests that the Lakers should get away with this game, but in today’s NBA, a 20-point lead is the prologue for a twisted half. And sure enough, the Warriors, after eight 3-pointers and 31 points from Curry, came back to beat the going away, 112-95, for their third straight victory, after opening the season 0-3.
In order for Lendeborg to be able to take back his words to Dončić (which, it should be noted, was nothing but the truth, even if he could argue, he had better keep to himself, at least in his early career), the greatest shooter ever set foot on this planet. This is how to Luka Dončić …
And this…
It wasn’t just Curry — who passed Dominique Wilkins for 18th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list — that came to Lendeborg’s rescue. It’s Brandin Podziemski with 21 points, six assists and five rebounds. It was De’Anthony Melton and Georges Niang’s tag-team for 27 points and seven 3-pointers. Draymond Green was going to take over defensive duties and unloaded nine dimes. It was LA’s 50-7 outscoring of the Warriors’ bench, and a defense that held the Lakers to just 57 points over the final three quarters to fuel a stunning 42-point turnaround.
For Lendeborg, this is a lesson that does not throw a superstar to a superstar and make your story talk (which, as I repeat, is beautiful, he is a grown man, and he did not say anything that everyone else does not think), which in the end does not matter that Dončić won each on Friday was better, because in the end the fighters were better.
This was the message that Kerr had for Lendeborg after the openm in which Lendeborg was too proud of the unique defense in Dončić.
“He did a good job on Luka one-on-one, but he was fired up by Luka’s team,” Kerr said. “All those states that the NBA allows, like, ‘Hey, when he’s guarding, who the eff do you care?’ It’s like, 127 of us scored. All these bulls —. is our defense.’
Translation: it’s a team game. Going forward in his career, Lendeborg, the clear alpha, will be the one who chooses his team on many nights, but on this night it was the rookie who needed his teammates to cover him. They did this well enough, and Lendeborgius acknowledged the work for praise with sincere humility.
“Those boys had their backs today,” Lendeborg said, noting that in his effort to stop and not allow the hype of the matchup to receive, he actually remained “a little too calm” and never got into the groove. “Steph Curry did his thing again. This bench crowd showed up today. It was awesome. Everyone played a great game. I feel like I’m the only Debbie downer on the team. I feel like the next time I go into one of these games, I just try to be a guy that sucks up all the energy.”