Yaxel Lendeborg told reporters in the Golden State Warriors’ locker room at Frost Bank Center following Friday’s 123-85 loss to the San Antonio Spurs that he and his teammates played scared against Victor Wembanyama. The rookie forward finished 1-for-13 from the field in the blowout, which came in the Warriors’ first game since Stephen Curry’s oblique injury.
“I just wasn’t being aggressive,” Lendeborg said. “He’s skinnier than me. I just got to go put an elbow on his chest and jump into his body or something.” He added that “if not, I can’t be going up there scared, though. That’s pretty much what it was. I feel like all of us are kind of scared in a way.”
Before tip-off, Lendeborg had laid out a different plan in comments reported by ESPN’s Anthony Slater, saying Wembanyama would be in help defense often and that he planned to shoot threes to draw him out. “I’m going to try to shoot as many threes as I can tonight. You know, just try to bait him into, you know, helping out. Maybe we get some more kickouts,” he said, adding he’d also try to “rough him up.”
The plan did not hold. Lendeborg attempted only two 3-pointers and missed both, while Wembanyama finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds in 21 minutes and Stephon Castle scored 32 for San Antonio.
A Confident Plan Collapsed on Contact
Lendeborg walked in with a specific, stated counter to Wembanyama — space the floor, shoot threes, bait the help — and abandoned it almost immediately, attempting just two 3-pointers and going 1-for-13 overall. It was the worst shooting night of his season, and it arrived two nights after he put up 25 points and 10 rebounds in Houston.
With Curry out and Lendeborg operating as the Warriors’ top offensive option, the distance between the plan he described and the shots he actually took is the part worth tracking. His own admission that the whole team played scared points at a matchup problem rather than a private one.
Three More Road Games Before Any of This Is a Pattern
The Warriors stay on the road, visiting the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday before a back-to-back against the Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies on Nov. 18 and 19. Whether Friday was one bad matchup or something steadier should be legible by the end of that stretch, still without Curry.
Source: Anthony Slater of ESPN
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