LOS ANGELES — Even the rain that poured over downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday couldn’t have prepared Golden State Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg for the storm Luka Dončić wrought upon him in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 127-105 win over the Warriors.
In a game with plenty of highlights for the purple and gold, Luka’s evisceration of the overeager rookie may be what’s remembered most. Lendeborg poked the bear only to be mauled in a second-quarter onslaught, punctuated by a technical foul and a memorable
buzzer beater.
“He was talking crazy,” Dončić said of Lendeborg. “I was trying not to talk back this season, not trying to get techs. It was the first time that was not a double tech, because I didn’t say nothing.”
Dončić instead opted to let his game talk. He scored 10 of his 23 first-half points after the chirping began, including a halfcourt heave well before the halftime buzzer sounded. Dončić pointed and smiled at Lendeborg as he regretfully walked to the tunnel.
“Oh yeah, I knew that was going up before it got in my hands,” Dončić added.
The Lakers star finished with 28 points and was a team-leading plus-31 in 29 minutes. Lendeborg was a minus-21 with four personal fouls in 28 minutes. Dončić was the eccentric rookie’s defensive assignment in his first NBA game, and, despite the result, he doubled down postgame.
“I had a lot of respect for [Dončić],” Lendeborg said. “Being in there first-hand, just watching all the whining and complaining, I lost all respect, man. That was awful… It kind of threw me off because, like I said, I had so much respect for him. Gone.”
Lendeborg joins a long list of foes that learned the hard way what happens when they bark at Dončić.
“It was a frustrating night for him, but a lesson well-learned,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
This opening-day feud shouldn’t overshadow the teamwide effort the Lakers displayed, though. Dončić’s threes, Walker Kessler’s dunks, Austin Reaves’ elusive isolation buckets were all complemented by Quentin Grimes’ scoring pop off the ball, Ziaire Williams’ dives to the floor, Jake LaRavia hounding after 50-50 balls. (And, yes, Lendeborg’s chirping.)
Los Angeles outscored the Warriors by at least 12 points when each of them was on the floor. LaRavia and his refined jump shot scored 10 points off the bench on 2-of-3 shooting from the perimeter. Grimes added 10 himself, mostly attacking closeouts as an off-ball guard. Williams had nine points and was a plus-12 in 24 minutes.
The Lakers gave up 33 first-quarter points and proceeded to allow just 35 over the next two quarters. Redick said before opening night that he still wanted to learn how the team responded to adversity. Respond they did.
“I thought we did things that a connected defense [would] do,” Redick said. “The thing that I saw a lot — particularly on the court — was, [during] dead balls, timeouts … those guys were on the court talking and problem-solving together.”
It’s game one of 82. Nights won’t always be this high, but the precedent the Lakers set is a promising sign for a team enduring a new era with serious championship aspirations.
Thanks a lot, Yaxel Lendeborg.
You can follow Connor on Twitter at @cmorenoNBA.
