Rookie forward Yaxel Lendeborg scored 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Warriors beat the Nuggets 134-114 on Monday night for their first win of the season, per ESPN. ESPN also credited him with six assists. Yahoo Sports framed the night as a glimpse of the Warriors' future and said Golden State beat a Denver team it struggles to beat. Sportsnet noted that Steph Curry added 24 points.
The box score backs up the lead. Lendeborg shot 9-for-19 and made 12 of 13 free throws in 31 minutes. He took 8 threes and made one, so most of the production came inside and at the line. Four of his 12 rebounds were offensive. Golden State's +/- with him on the floor was +27, the best on the team except Brandin Podziemski's +33. Curry was 8-for-8 from the field and 3-for-3 from three in 27 minutes.
Golden State pulled away from a 32-28 first-quarter deficit. It outscored Denver 32-24 in the second quarter and 40-28 in the third, and its largest lead was 24 points. The Warriors shot 50% from three (22-for-44) against Denver's 10-for-29. They also won the rebounding battle 45-32. Denver was missing the usual output from its starters. Aaron Gordon went 2-for-10, and Nikola Jokic had 19 points and 11 assists on 8-for-18 shooting. Jamal Murray scored 19 and DeMar DeRozan 21.
The numbers on how many games Lendeborg has played don't line up. Yahoo and ESPN call this his fourth NBA game. Our regular-season log shows three, at the Lakers on Oct. 21, at Phoenix on Oct. 24 and this one. The game before those was a preseason game against Portland on Oct. 16, so the difference may be in how the outlets count. The trend within those three games is clear: 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting in a 127-105 loss at the Lakers, 26 points with six threes at Phoenix in a 131-122 loss, and then 31 on Monday.
The win leaves Golden State 1-2, third in the Pacific. Denver is also 1-2 and fourth in the Northwest, and has lost its last game after beating New Orleans 141-135 on Saturday. The Nuggets' only other loss was 96-84 at Oklahoma City on Oct. 22. The Warriors' first two games were road losses, so Monday was their first win of the season.
Both teams play again Wednesday, Oct. 28. Golden State is at Minnesota, and Denver is at New Orleans. Lendeborg will be watched to see whether he can repeat a night like this against the Timberwolves.
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