The Warriors didn’t have Steph Curry or Draymond Green on Sunday night, but they still had the night’s biggest breakout. Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg took center stage and delivered the kind of performance that can change how a team sees a young player.
Lendeborg poured in a career-high 37 points as Golden State beat the Clippers 124-112 for its fourth straight win. It was the most points by a Warriors rookie since Eric Paschall in 2020, and it came after a rough six-point outing with five turnovers against the Lakers on Friday.
Before the game, Steve Kerr said he wasn’t exactly sure why Lendeborg is so easy to coach. The Warriors coach suggested the 24-year-old’s six years of college basketball at three different schools may have helped shape that trait. Whatever the reason, Lendeborg showed he was listening.
With Curry and Green sitting for rest on the first night of a back-to-back, Los Angeles had every reason to make Lendeborg the priority. He handled it with confidence. Against the same Clippers team that bothered him in the Warriors’ first preseason game in Honolulu, he looked nothing like the hesitant rookie from that night.
The shot was there, and he took it. Lendeborg hit 6 of 11 from 3-point range, attacking drop coverage off the dribble and firing away when he had space. He also got to the line six times and looked far more controlled around the rim than he had earlier in the preseason, when he was throwing himself into traffic and, against the Lakers, barely even looking at the basket.
Golden State led 63-57 at halftime and pushed the margin to 21 late in the fourth quarter. Then came a small wobble.
With Lendeborg sitting on 37 points, the Warriors tried to get him to 40. He missed three straight shots, the team’s offense stalled, and the Clippers trimmed the deficit to 118-110 with two minutes left on a 16-4 run.
That’s when De’Anthony Melton stepped in and steadied things. Kerr turned to the veteran guard, and Melton answered with two 3-pointers to put the game back in hand.
Melton finished with 21 points, while Georges Niang started in place of Curry and Green. Brandin Podziemski added 17 points and eight rebounds, and Brandon Williams scored 17 off the bench.
The Warriors are now 4-3 and will host Phoenix on Monday.
There was also a look at the center rotation with Green out. Charles Bassey got his first start of the season, and just his fourth career appearance in the first five.
He finished with six points and 10 rebounds in 20 minutes, highlighted by an alley-oop dunk from Podziemski in the fourth quarter. Al Horford played 22 minutes off the bench, and he will not play against Phoenix on Monday.
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