Steve Kerr plans to play through Yaxel Lendeborg late in games as the short-handed Warriors fall to 0-3

Steve Kerr walked out of a 131-122 loss in Phoenix on Saturday, October 24, with a plan rather than a complaint: the Golden State Warriors will start running more of their late-game offense through rookie Yaxel Lendeborg, so that Stephen Curry and Draymond Green do not have to carry every close finish on their own. The loss dropped Golden State to 0-3, its first winless three-game start since the 2006-07 season.

The context matters. On the second night of their first back-to-back, the Warriors sat Curry (right knee), Green, Brandin Podziemski and Al Horford (all low back), dressed 11 players and used their third different starting lineup in three games. Lendeborg, Brandon Williams, Graham Ike, Will Richard and Gui Santos opened the night, and Williams made his first start for the franchise.

Why Kerr wants the ball in Lendeborg’s hands

Asked about the Memphis collapse a night earlier, when a 17-0 Grizzlies run erased a 12-point lead, Kerr said the shots his team got were mostly fine, but leaning on the Curry-Green two-man game possession after possession puts too much weight on two veterans. That action stays the team’s best weapon, he said, yet he described Lendeborg as a player with the size and handle to create his own shot. Lendeborg, Kerr said, is a talented player “who we can absolutely play through,” and he added that the rookie will get more pick-and-roll and playmaking chances and that he expects him to help close games this season.

Lendeborg backed that up on Saturday with 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists in 36 minutes, making 6 of 11 threes. Through three games he has 56 points, the third-highest total for a Warriors rookie in that span behind Wilt Chamberlain and Joe Fulks, according to the team.

Kerr was just as direct about what is missing. He called the rookie’s weak-side awareness on defense very poor right now and said a player that size should be one of the team’s best rim protectors. On offense, he wants Lendeborg to stop throwing himself into the body of the big man at the rim and pick a pull-up, a euro step or a kick-out instead.

The young bigs and the margins

The center spot is where the depth chart moved most. Ike, a rookie on a two-way deal, had 12 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes, the first double-double of his career. Charles Bassey, back from right patellar tendinopathy for his season debut, went 4-for-4 in under 13 minutes and scored the last seven points of a 12-0 Golden State run. Kerr called both of them fearless and said the club is excited about the pair. De’Anthony Melton added 25 points off the bench, 13 of them in the third quarter.

Phoenix still shot 58 percent, Devin Booker scored 43 and the Suns won the transition battle 27-7. Kerr tied the defense to the offense: careless out-of-bounds plays and live-ball mistakes, he said, let the Suns run, and he repeated that small details and cleaner sets will decide games like this one. He also said the mood will not slip. “We’re not going to lose our spirit,” he said.

What comes next

The Warriors hold a film session before visiting the Denver Nuggets on Monday, October 26, at 10 p.m. ET, a meeting that could bring Curry, Green and Podziemski back. The Suns come to Chase Center on Monday, November 2.

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