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Yaxel Lendeborg after 1-of-13 night in Warriors’ 123-85 loss to Spurs: ‘I’m not gonna move past this’
Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg went 1-of-13 and was -40 in a 123-85 loss at San Antonio, then said he would not “throw it out the window.” Steve Kerr said the bounce-back is what matters, and Victor Wembanyama called Draymond Green’s flagrant foul “not surprising.”
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Yaxel Lendeborg was not interested in the usual advice after the Golden State Warriors lost 123-85 to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night. Asked how he would move past the worst game of his rookie season, he said he wouldn’t. “I’m not gonna move past this. I don’t know about the rest of us. Everybody’s saying, ‘Throw it out the window.’ I can’t throw a damn thing out the window,” Lendeborg said. “We just lost by like 100, so I’m [messed] up mentally right now.”
Lendeborg finished with three points on 1-of-13 shooting, seven rebounds and three turnovers in 24 minutes. He was -40, the worst mark of anyone on the floor. It was the Warriors’ first game since Stephen Curry suffered an oblique tear in Houston, and San Antonio opened it on an 18-0 run on the way to its 11th straight win.
Yaxel Lendeborg after the Warriors’ loss in San Antonio. Video posted by Joseph Dycus on X.
‘It’s gonna be a bad day’
Lendeborg said he felt flustered from the start and could trace it to his first two shots. “First shot, in and out. I’m like, ‘Yep, it’s gonna be a bad day,’” he said. “Next shot, I don’t know what it was, I think I airballed a floater or something like that.” After that, he said, it felt like it was over for the rest of the game. “I don’t know what the hell is going on with me, man, but I couldn’t make a shot. I was 1 for 13,” he said. “It was an awful performance by me. I let everybody on this team down.”
He also talked about what Victor Wembanyama did to the Warriors’ approach. “Nobody wanted to go into the paint, nobody wanted to get the shot blocked,” Lendeborg said, describing a night of floaters he said he had not worked on in years. He put part of it on himself. “I just wasn’t being aggressive. Like, he’s skinnier than me, and I just got to go put an elbow on his chest and jump into his body or something. Like, if he blocks it, he blocks it,” he said. “All of us were kind of scared in a way.”
Lendeborg on feeling flustered. Posted by Luca Evans on X.
The game came one day after Lendeborg said, before shootaround, that he had to move into a “score-first mindset” without Curry and rated his comfort with that role “probably like 6 out of 10.” He had 25 points and 10 rebounds after Curry went out in Houston on Wednesday. More: Al Horford says the Warriors ‘have to really lean in on our defense’ without Stephen Curry, and Yaxel Lendeborg rates his confidence ‘6 out of 10’.
Kerr: ‘The bounce-back is what’s most important’
Steve Kerr said the rookie will have more nights like this. “There’s going to be nights like this, and so, the bounce-back is what’s most important. And he’ll learn from this, just like he’s learning from every experience he’s having here in the early going,” Kerr said. On the team, he added: “It’s going to take a little time to adapt to no Steph. And we’re playing the best team in the league, hottest team in the league.”
Steve Kerr after the loss in San Antonio. Video posted by Luca Evans on X.
Lendeborg said he will not forget the night. “I’m not going to forget this ever,” he said, adding that it felt helpless out there. He also noted that people keep reminding him there are about 70 games left. Golden State, now 8-5, plays at New Orleans on Monday.
Wembanyama on Green’s flagrant foul
The other talking point from Friday was Draymond Green. Green was called for a Flagrant 1 with 6:47 left in the first half after a shove from behind that sent Wembanyama tumbling out of bounds. Green did not return in the first half and finished with four points in 16 minutes. Asked about the play, Wembanyama kept it short. “Do I have any thoughts on it? Not much. I mean, it’s not surprising,” he said.
On physical play in general, he said: “I know I have to be smart. It’s not a good basketball strategy, and it shows.” Wembanyama had 12 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in 21 minutes, and Stephon Castle led the Spurs with a season-high 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting. San Antonio plays at Utah on Sunday.
Victor Wembanyama on Draymond Green’s flagrant foul. Video posted by Carolina Teague on X.
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