With Stephen Curry out, the Warriors needed someone to help carry the offense, and rookie Yaxel Lendeborg got the chance. Friday night, though, was a rough one. He went 1-for-13 from the field in a 38-point loss to the Spurs, and he didn’t try to soften the blow afterward, according to ESPN’s Anthony Slater.
“I was flustered the entire game,” Lendeborg said. “Couldn’t make a damn layup.”
Victor Wembanyama was a major reason the Warriors kept running into trouble around the rim.
“Nobody wanted to go into the paint,” Lendeborg said. “Nobody wanted to get their shot blocked by him.
So we were all just doing some weak-ass floaters. I don’t know how many of us work on those.
Especially me. I shot like seven of them.
I never work on floaters since like [junior college].”
Lendeborg said the loss is going to stick with him.
“I’m not going to move past this,” Lendeborg said. “I don’t know about the rest of us.
Everybody said throw it out the window. I can’t throw a damn thing out the window.”
Elsewhere in the West, the Pelicans’ problems kept piling up. Earlier in the day, it was revealed that Dejounte Murray wanted to be traded, and then New Orleans was blown out by Memphis, 142-111, for its fifth straight defeat.
Over the last four losses, the Pelicans have allowed at least 138 points each time. Coach Jamahl Mosley told NOLA.com’s Isaac Constans that he’s still trying to settle on a rotation.
“It’s hard to find the data when guys are bumping in and bumping out, ” Mosley said. “These are not excuses. These are the reality of not being able to find the right sample size because you don’t have enough games to really measure it.”
In Denver, Jamal Murray is putting up big numbers - 26.2 points, 5.9 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 50.9 percent - but he pushed back on the idea that he’s suddenly playing the best basketball of his career. Speaking with Bennett Durando of the Denver Post, he kept it simple.
“Not really, I’m not doing anything different, honestly,” he said. “Just playing my game.”
The Nuggets also made a roster move with three players currently out of the rotation. DaRon Holmes, Cam Whitmore and Ryan Nembhard were assigned to the Grand Rapids Gold, according to Vinny Benedetto of the Denver Gazette.
And in Phoenix, don’t look for the Suns to chase Kings center Domantas Sabonis, according to radio reporter John Gambadoro. Sabonis is due $45.5MM this season and $48.6MM next season before his contract expires, and the Suns already have two young centers. Mark Williams is also expected back from shoulder surgery around the All-Star break.
In Other News...
Pelicans Problems Are Getting Harder To Ignore After Another Blowout
The Pelicans rough start kept getting uglier Friday night in Memphis, where they were blown out 145-111 in an NBA Cup game and slipped to 0-2 in the event and 4-9 overall. With injuries already thinning the roster, New Orleans has been trying to patch together answers on the fly, but the results have been hard to miss as the losses keep piling up.
Defense has been the biggest problem, and the latest defeat only added to the sense that the issues are becoming deeper than a bad shooting night or a short-handed rotation. The timing also made the day feel heavier around the team, with more roster uncertainty hanging over a group that is already struggling to find any kind of rhythm. [Read more 🡒]
Pelicans Suddenly Face A Dejounte Murray Situation They Cant Ignore
The Suns have started to show their hand in the market, making Jalen Green available as they search for a point guard, even if they may wait until later in the season to push harder on trade talks. For New Orleans, that matters because Dejounte Murray is in the middle of a situation that has already put his future on the radar around the league, and Phoenix has emerged as a team worth watching as the guard market starts to take shape.
For now, though, there has been no formal conversation between the Pelicans and Suns, which leaves plenty of room for the speculation to keep building without any actual movement. New Orleans has enough on its plate already with the Smoothie King Center renovation plan and the funding hurdles that still need to be sorted out, but Murrays status is the kind of roster issue that can quickly become impossible to ignore if the right team decides to press. [Read more 🡒]
Yves Missi Could Return As Pelicans Try To Stop Defensive Spiral
The Pelicans may finally be getting some help back in the middle, with Yves Missi listed as probable for the upcoming meeting with the Nuggets after missing time with a left knee contusion and bone bruise. He has been sidelined since Oct. 23, and his possible return comes at a time when New Orleans badly needs something to steady a defense that has slipped during a five-game losing streak.
Even with Missi trending back, the roster remains thin in other spots, leaving the Pelicans to patch together a lineup while trying to stop the slide. Several key contributors are still out, including a veteran guard who asked to be traded Friday, so any boost from Missi would arrive in a difficult spot rather than a clean reset. [Read more 🡒]