SAN ANTONIO -- In his first game as the primary offensive engine in place of the injured Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg went 1-of-13 shooting in a 123-85 blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.
“We just lost by like 100,” Lendeborg said. “So you know I’m f---ed up mentally right now.”
Twelve hours earlier, following the team’s morning shootaround in San Antonio, Lendeborg expressed an apprehensive excitement about his elevated scoring role in place of Curry, placing his confidence level at a “6 out of 10.”
“The other four is like, man, am I going to be able to live up to it?” Lendeborg said. “Am I going to be able to help out the team the way I want to? But time will tell.”
Lendeborg has had a generally spectacular start to his NBA career, averaging 21.7 points and 7.4 rebounds through his first 12 games, generating early Rookie of the Year buzz. He had a 37-point game in a win over the Clippers when Curry rested earlier in the month.
But the Clippers aren’t the Spurs. The defending Western Conference champions entered on a 10-game win streak and ripped off an 18-0 run to start the game. Lendeborg had two misses and two turnovers in a silent first quarter. He would finish with 3 points, 7 rebounds and 3 turnovers.
“I was flustered the entire game,” Lendeborg said. “Couldn’t make a damn layup.”
The Warriors went 10-of-42 shooting with Victor Wembanyama on the floor, a 24% conversion rate that is the worst by any team when Wembanyama has been on the court in a game in his career.
“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 before the game he planned to shoot a bunch of 3s in an effort to score over the top of Wembanyama, but attempted only two and missed both.
“He’s skinnier than me,” Lendeborg said. “I just got to go up there and put an elbow in his chest and jump into his body or something. If he blocks it, he blocks it. I can’t go up there scared.”
The loss dropped the Warriors to 8-5. They get two off-days prior to resuming their road trip Monday night in New Orleans without Curry, who is out at least two weeks and presumably longer after tearing his oblique in Houston on Wednesday night.
“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.”