Yaxel Lendeborg left another strong imprint on the Golden State Warriors’ win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, then turned the focus right back to the Lakers.
The rookie scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the 119-114 victory, adding one assist while shooting 11-for-20 from the field and 2-for-5 from deep. It was another eye-catching night for the 24-year-old, who has kept his scoring punch rolling after a 31-point performance in his last game.
But the next stop is the one everyone is circling. Golden State’s first NBA Cup game sends the Warriors back against the Lakers, the same team they beat on opening night, and the storyline is already leaning toward Lendeborg and Luka Doncic again. Lendeborg was asked directly whether he was looking forward to that matchup.
“Absolutely. Absolutely.
Yes, I am,” said Lendeborg when asked if he was looking forward to the next game against the Lakers. “I’ll talk more about that on Friday,” he added as the scrum broke out in laughter.
The back-and-forth between the two has been there since opening night. Lendeborg called out Doncic for whining and complaining and said he had lost all respect for the Lakers star because of his flopping. Doncic, for his part, believes Lendeborg brought the heat on himself with the trash talk and then paid for it when he lit up the Warriors in only three quarters.
In that first meeting, Doncic posted 28 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, and three steals, shooting 7-for-18 from the floor and 5-for-12 from three. Lendeborg finished with 12 points, three rebounds, and two assists, going 5-for-11 overall and 1-for-4 from beyond the arc.
Lendeborg’s offensive assertiveness has grown since then, but the Timberwolves game came with a messier edge. He coughed up seven turnovers, and afterward he didn’t sugarcoat what went wrong.
“I played hella soft today. Draymond told me that as well.
But like seeing it from everybody else’s perspective, I know I was playing super soft. I gave in to all the fake pressure that they were applying, all the grabbing and all the pulling.”
“I was also playing kind of timid. I wasn’t decisive about my moves, which is where I would say five of my turnovers came from.
The other two were just stupid on my part. But I’ll watch film on it, and next time I’ll just attack it,” Lendeborg said while addressing his turnovers tonight.
He also pointed to the physical side of the game, saying he needed to do a better job using his body.
“I feel like nobody on that team was stronger than me; I don’t mean look-wise, I mean playing-wise. I wasn’t using my body well, not going through people’s chests and doing some extra, unnecessary movements,” Yaxel Lendeborg added.
Draymond Green was in his ear during the game, pushing him to be more aggressive, and Lendeborg said that helped him keep his confidence even while the turnovers piled up. The rematch comes Friday, October 30, at home in San Francisco, and the matchup with the Lakers - and Doncic - already feels like must-see material.
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