While Yaxel Lendeborg delivered an impressive defensive coverage against Luka Doncic in their intense showdown last Wednesday, Steve Kerr is still not fully convinced of the Golden State Warriors rookie.
In the eyes of Kerr, Lendeborg still failed in his task of helping to stop the LA Lakers team behind the Slovenian superstar, which resulted in their 127-105 season-opening loss.
"He did a good job on Luka, 1-on-1. But, we got torched by Luka as a team. I don’t care. All those stats that the NBA puts up — ‘Hey, when he guarded (Luka)’ — who the F cares? Like, they scored 128 on us," Kerr told reporters ahead of the Warriors' Friday home game against the Memphis Grizzlies.
"That stuff’s all bull****. It’s our defense. And he knows that, I talked to him about that yesterday. And our defense was not good, regardless of him individually when he guarded the ball. That stuff doesn’t matter."
Amid Luka Doncic shooting struggles, Lakers dominated Yaxel Lendeborg and Warriors
Going toe-to-toe in their heated matchup last Wednesday, Yaxel Lendeborg played superb defense agaisnt Luka Doncic, clamping down the Slovenian superstar to 1-of-6 shooting (16.7%).
However, despite the ugly 7-of-18 shooting through the course of the night, Doncic still managed to finish with 28 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists to fully orchestrate the Lakers' 127-105 win.
With Doncic spearheading LA's offense, the Lakers shot a red-hot 56.8% as a team, headlined by Walker Kessler's historic 26-point performance on a perfect 12-of-12 shooting in his debut.
As they will play the Lakers again next week for the NBA Cup Group play, Lendeborg can only embrace not only defending Doncic, but several other Lakers players.
"I love the young guy. He’s really talented. I love his competitiveness. Like I said, I didn’t mind that stuff the other day. But as Steph [Curry] said, you got to back it up. And that’s the thing. We play the Lakers again next week, so okay, here you go. So that was an interesting Opening Night," Kerr added about Lendeborg.
B"ut for us as a staff, it’s really more about the small things that most people aren’t going to be looking at. Help-side defense."
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