Yaxel Lendeborg scored 31 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out six assists in his fourth NBA game, leading the Golden State Warriors to a 134-114 blowout road win over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.
It has been a loud start to Lendeborg’s NBA career, filled with outspoken headlines and gaudy statistics. His 87 points are the most by a Warriors rookie in his first four games since Wilt Chamberlain in 1959.
Lendeborg’s teammate, Stephen Curry, was the last Warriors rookie to record at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a game, doing so in 2010, when Lendeborg was 8 years old.
“Absolutely,” Lendeborg said when asked if he is surprising himself. “Especially this game. I had 13 free throws. That’s crazy. That’s absurd for me.”
Lendeborg Seizes the Opportunity
The Warriors are without the injured and rehabbing Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody to open the season, leaving a void and a major opportunity on the wing for Lendeborg.
At 24, he is an older rookie and considered an advanced prospect, but everyone on the ground level of the Warriors’ operation has admitted he is further along than expected on the offensive end.
“He’s able to impose his will on the game,” Draymond Green said. “I don’t care what age you are — it’s the NBA.”
Golden State had stumbled to an 0-3 start before Monday night and entered as seven-point underdogs against a rested Nuggets team at home, facing the danger of an early-season spiral.
The Warriors controlled the action for much of the night and did so without needing a particularly aggressive Curry. The star guard attempted only one first-half shot, a made 3, yet Golden State still led by four at halftime, powered by 15 Lendeborg points and six 3-pointers from the veteran bench.
Curry Heats Up and Rookie Closes It Out
Curry caught fire in the third quarter, making all seven of his shots and finishing with an efficient 24 points on 8-of-8 shooting. It was only the second perfect shooting night of his legendary career.
Curry didn’t even need to contribute in the game’s biggest moments. The Warriors outscored the Nuggets by seven in his 27 minutes and outscored Denver by 13 in the 21 minutes he rested.
That included a fourth-quarter closeout with Curry and Green on the bench, while Lendeborg and fourth-year guard Brandin Podziemski (18 points, seven rebounds, five assists) put the game away.
Lendeborg missed seven of his eight 3-point attempts but dominated the second half with a series of powerful downhill drives past Aaron Gordon, Nikola Jokic and whoever else the Nuggets put in front of him. His 31 free throw attempts through four games rank seventh in the NBA.
“He’s as strong as an ox and skilled,” Kerr said. “You saw tonight. In all the critical moments of the game, we just put the ball in his hands. For a rookie to be that advanced already, it’s extremely rare.”
Nuggets Fall Further Behind
The loss dropped Denver to a disappointing 1-2. Its lone win, an overtime comeback against the New Orleans Pelicans, included boos from the home crowd, which prompted Jokic to criticize the team’s fans after the game, saying those who booed didn’t need to come back.
After Monday’s loss, he repeated the point.
“I’m sticking to what I said,” Jokic said. “I think they are not real fans.”
Denver had a chance to mount another late run, like the frantic fourth-quarter comeback a couple of nights earlier, but Lendeborg slammed the door. He delivered a driving assist on an Al Horford 3, finished a transition alley-oop, and then added another assist on a Gui Santos 3.
Curry and Green never had to reenter the game down the stretch, watching their rookie carry the team across the finish line.
“Yax has that [power drive] ability combined with his passing skills,” Kerr said. “He’s going to be a guy who closes games like he did tonight.”