Yaksel Landeborg showed he has the ability to be a team leader Sunday night by helping Warriors pick up a win over the Clippers without Stephen Curry and Draymond Greenwrites ESPN’s Anthony Slater. Both veterans sat out the opening night of back-to-back meetings, so Lendeborg took control of the offense, hitting 13-of-19 shots, including six from 3-point range, for 37 points.
“It’s pretty amazing the impact he has on these games in the first couple of weeks of the season.” coach Steve Kerr said. “It changes everything. On a night like tonight without Steph, we score 124 points and Yax is the main reason we have a lot of power.”
Lendeborg is averaging 22.3 PPG in his first seven NBA games and has emerged as a strong Rookie of the Year candidate in a draft filled with more established players. His scoring prowess helped Golden State get off to a 4-3 start despite a roster depleted by illness and injury.
Lendeborg admitted to making some rash 3-pointers late in the game after two of his teammates urged him to try for 40 points. He missed all of them, helping the Clippers pull ahead, and said he learned from the experience and won’t do it again.
“I’ve never done statistics in my life” said Landeborg. “To fall under peer pressure like I just did was bad of me. I’m a guy who loves ethical hoops. I kind of didn’t do that for the last two or three minutes.”
More on Warriors:
- Curry was unavailable due to treatment of a right knee injury, while Green is out due to treatment of a bilateral lower back injury. Both are expected to return tonight against Phoenix. Al Horford played on Sunday and will likely be given the day off, Slater tweets. Kerr said those decisions are made by the vice president of player health and performance Rick Celebrini (Link to video on Twitter). “Today was the best day to give them time to recover from their trip,” Kerr told reporters before Sunday’s competition.
- Gui Santos after Kara and Jimmy Butler was injured last season, but Kerr is encouraging him to approach the role differently this year, per Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. Kerr believes the team’s increased talent level has reduced the need to try to make something out of nothing on offense. “Last year you had to be a little bit wild at times to try to force things because we didn’t have enough. Now we have enough.” Kerr said. “… We can’t force a problem and I think sometimes he forces a problem, but he’s perfect for playing the style we play because he’s got a lot of skills.”
- Knee tendinitis forced Santos to miss the second half of Sunday’s game, according to Slater (Link to Twitter). Kerr plans to rest him tonight and then reevaluate his condition.