Luka Doncic turned a little second-quarter chatter into a full-blown message at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday night.
The Lakers’ season opener looked tight early, but Los Angeles pulled away for a 127-105 win over the Warriors after Doncic went at rookie Yaxel Lendeborg following some trash talk late in the first half. With the Lakers ahead 53-48 and less than three minutes left in the second quarter, Lendeborg started jawing at Doncic.
“You cannot f-king guard me, man,” Doncic seemed to say after drawing a foul, then started clapping as if he were getting riled up. Lendeborg was instantly subbed out.
Doncic wasn’t done there. A few moments later, he buried a mid-range jumper over the Warriors, pointed toward Lendeborg on the bench and kept talking.
“Come back out, p-y,” Doncic seemed to say. Steve Kerr apparently tried to play peacemaker, but that clearly didn’t work.
Then came the knockout response: Doncic drilled a half-court buzzer-beater to end the half, swinging a game that had been a one-point contest after the first quarter into a 66-52 Lakers lead at the break.
He kept rolling into the third quarter after scoring 10 points to close the second, and by the time Los Angeles pushed the margin to 34 at the end of the period, the night was essentially over for him. The Lakers sat him for the entire fourth quarter.
Doncic finished with 28 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, and three steals, shooting 7-for-18 from the field and 5-for-12 from deep.
The trash talk carried a little extra bite because Lendeborg had already admitted earlier this month that he was worried about guarding Doncic. After being told he’d have the assignment in a preseason game, he said, “I said, ‘What the f-k?’” and added, “Nobody can stop him; do your best,” Frank Vogel apparently warned him.
“I tried to act, like, all cool, and not spooked,” Lendeborg said after the Warriors’ preseason win over the Lakers. “But I was spooked, man.
That’s crazy. My mind was all over the place after that.”
Los Angeles stayed in control for most of the fourth quarter while the starters watched from the bench. The Lakers now meet the Clippers on Friday night, October 22, while the Warriors face the Grizzlies that same night. The teams meet again on October 30 in their NBA Cup matchup.
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