Yaxel Lendeborg had a genuine 'welcome to the NBA' experience in his competitive debut for the Golden State Warriors. He was part of Steve Kerr's starting lineup as the Warriors fell to the Los Angeles Lakers 105-127. The rookie forward found himself tasked with trying to contain Luka Doncic, leading to the pair becoming embroiled in a series of trash-talking events that ultimately led to Lendeborg receiving a technical foul.
Guarding Doncic, on your first official game in the NBA, is an unenviable task. Nevertheless, Lendeborg stepped up and impressed in difficult circumstances. In 2:58 of being directly matched up with Doncic, Lendeborg held him to 1-of-5 shooting from the field and forced two turnovers. However, he did make the occasional rookie mistake, which allowed Doncic to get to the line three times during their matchups, where he went 6-of-6.
When speaking with the media after the game, Lendeborg admitted that facing Doncic has only helped him grow in confidence when it comes to guarding the best offensive threats the NBA has to offer.
“This game for sure gave me a lot of confidence in being able to guard superstars," Lendeborg said. "I’m gonna learn a lot more about the foul baiting as soon as possible,” Yaxel said after the Warriors-Lakers season opener. I kind of learned more into this game as well, but it’s like, I was very like, worried coming into the game, thinking he was going to just get all his points on me. But it was eye-opening for me. I think I did a great job defending. So, I definitely look forward to getting more matchups. Hopefully not as foul-baiting as this guy, but we’ll see how it goes.”
Facing off against Doncic is one of the toughest tests in the NBA. The fact that Lendeborg managed to hold his own should certainly give him all the confidence he needs moving forward.
However, the NBA is a 'what have you done for me lately?' league, and with that, Lendeborg must continue to perform when taking on tough defensive challenges; otherwise, that confidence could quickly evaporate.
This post originally appeared on Warriors Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
This article originally appeared on Warriors Wire: Warriors’ Yaxel Lendeborg Gains Confidence From Guarding Luka Doncic