Lendeborg Found 31 Points Beyond His Cold Three-Point Shot

A 1-for-8 night from three would have swallowed a narrower scoring performance. Yaxel Lendeborg still reached 31 points Monday by making his attempts inside the arc count and converting nearly every trip to the foul line. Four misses from deep had come in the opening quarter; his other work kept building.

Lendeborg scored 31 points, collected 12 rebounds and delivered six assists as Golden State took a 134-114 win from Denver at Ball Arena. He converted 8 of 11 attempts inside the arc and went 12-for-13 at the foul line. That combination made his night more interesting than a routine rookie eruption built on a warm perimeter hand.

The Warriors got a glimpse of a scoring portfolio that does not vanish with the jumper.

Golden State could absorb the misses because Golden State’s offense had plenty of outside help. The Warriors sank 22 of 44 3-pointers, twelve more than Denver, a difference worth 36 points before considering everything else that happened. Stephen Curry did not miss a shot, Brandin Podziemski supplied 18 points and Gui Santos made 5 of 6 shots.

Lendeborg did not have to carry every possession, but his contribution held up even when his outside attempts did not.

His first-quarter response was physical and fairly plain. After the early misses, he secured a defensive rebound with 9:22 left. When he returned later in the period, he blocked Christian Braun’s 5-foot attempt with 4:15 remaining, then scored a running layup seven seconds afterward. At 2:50, he made a 5-foot shot and added the free throw after Nikola Jokić was called for a shooting foul.

Those possessions did not require an elaborate explanation. Lendeborg could affect the sequence with a rebound, protect the rim, finish near it and accept a trip to the line. He ended with four offensive rebounds among his 12, an important detail on a night when some first attempts were not cooperating.

Extra chances are not a substitute for shot-making, but they are a sturdy way to prevent a bad shooting stretch from becoming an invisible one.

The second quarter offered a particularly useful little chain. Lendeborg missed another 3 at 5:34, then stayed connected to the possession as De’Anthony Melton grabbed the offensive rebound and Al Horford hit a 3. At 4:10, Lendeborg finally made his lone shot from beyond the arc.

Shortly afterward, he missed a layup, won the offensive rebound himself and scored on the follow-up at 3:40. He assisted Podziemski’s 3 at 2:34 and later finished a running layup with 48.9 seconds left in the half.

The numbers tell the shape of the scoring without pretending to explain every whistle: 16 points from his eight made 2-pointers, 12 from free throws and three from his lone 3. The six assists and 12 rebounds widened the performance beyond scoring.

Three turnovers kept it from being spotless, and Denver’s second-half defense was hardly a stern examination; the Nuggets gave up 74 points after the break. Still, the rookie repeatedly moved to the next option instead of allowing one cold category to define him.

Curry’s line deserves its own credit. He made all eight field-goal attempts, including three 3-pointers, went 5-for-5 at the line and scored 24 points. Twenty-one of those points came after halftime, when Golden State produced 40 in the third quarter and 34 in the fourth. Curry’s precision helped turn the game into a comfortable win, yet it was not the whole explanation for the gap.

In the third, Lendeborg scored on a 5-foot shot at 11:21 before assisting Curry’s 27-foot 3 at 10:48. In the fourth, he set up Melton’s 3 at 7:10, assisted Horford’s 3 at 5:00 and finished a dunk at 4:36. By then, the Warriors had control, so those plays should not be inflated into proof of a completed transformation.

They do show how a rookie can remain useful as scorer, rebounder and connector when the cleanest-looking shot is not falling.

Lendeborg assisted Horford’s three with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, then finished a dunk himself at 4:36. The scoring had survived a cold outside night, and the passing had supplied shots for somebody else. Golden State got 31 points without needing his eight perimeter attempts to behave like a dependable source of offense.

Sources

NBA: official final box score

NBA: official game recap

ESPN: box score and play-by-play