Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg picked a fight with Luka Doncic in his very first NBA game, and Luka answered the way Luka usually does: 28 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals in a 127-105 Lakers win over Golden State on opening night, as reported by ClutchPoints.
The two got into it in the second quarter, and Lendeborg was hit with a technical for the trash talk. After the game, the 24-year-old didn’t back down. “Watching all the whining and complaining, I lost all respect for him,” he said, per ClutchPoints.
Luka’s side of it? “He was talking crazy. But I wasn’t trying to talk back this season, not trying to get techs,” he said. He also admitted the obvious: “I think everybody knows when somebody starts talking, you get a different me.”
The IAHHM Take
Every hooper knows the rule. You can talk all you want, but the scoreboard gets the last word. Lendeborg finished with 12 points and 3 rebounds in 29 minutes. Meanwhile, the Lakers’ new-look group cooked: Austin Reaves added 23 points and 6 assists, and Walker Kessler went a perfect 12-of-12 from the field for 26 points and 9 boards.
Still, the Warriors locker room had the rookie’s back. Steve Kerr called it “a great welcome-to-the-NBA game for him” and said Luka “kind of lured him in a little bit,” adding that the single tech “should’ve been a double tech,” per ClutchPoints. Draymond Green, who knows a thing or two about chirping, said he disagrees “1,000%” with anyone who thinks the rookie shouldn’t have stepped to Luka.
We respect the energy. A rookie who isn’t scared on night one is exactly the kind of edge you want in a locker room that already has Steph in mentor mode (he was doing the same for the Valkyries’ Gabby Williams this week). But the next step is simple: back it up. Golden State (0-1) gets Memphis on Friday.
So what’s the verdict: was Lendeborg out of line, or did we just watch the start of the league’s newest rivalry?
Source: ClutchPoints
