In Sunday’s 124-112 victory against the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors rookie phenom Yaxel Lendeborg fell just shy of scoring 40 points. It is the most for a Warriors rookie since Stephen Curry in 2010.
Lendeborg finished with 37 points and was asked why he didn’t go for the 40-point figure. He indeed tried, but fell short because of the pressure from his peers.
“I’ve never been a stat chaser in my life, so just falling into peer pressure like I did just now was pretty much bad on my part,” Lendeborg said. “Especially because I’m a guy that just loves ethical hoops. I’m a guy that loves efficient basketball, and I didn’t do that the last two or three minutes. So it’s kind of bad on my part.”
Lendeborg said his teammate De’Anthony Melton approached him and said, “Hey man you need to get 40. You’re three points away.’ And I’m like, ‘Nah, man. It’s all good.’ And he peer pressured me into doing it.”
“He said he’s going to give me the ball. And he literally like, was holding it just to give me the ball. And I’m like, ‘All right, fine. I’ll shoot it.’ And I missed.”
Lendeborg said he tried to barter with Melton about being content with his 37 points, but then Will Richard approached him and said, “You got to do it.”
“Everybody was just egging me on, and I kind of just fell into it. But I know next time, I’mma just play in the flow of the game, ’cause they came out of me like four threes in a row, and we almost lost the game because of that. So, next time I’m never doing that again.”
It is not often you hear a professional athlete openly talk about trying to pad their stats. Yet, the Warriors rookie is not one for holding back.
“If it comes to me, it does. If I don’t get it, then I wasn’t meant to get it that day,” Lendeborg said. “Imma be way better next time.”
Steve Kerr told reporters he’s enjoyed watching his rookie shine, saying, “he’s playing this way and he really doesn’t know the NBA game yet. …He’s going to get a lot better.”
