LOS ANGELES \u2014 Yaxel Lendeborg has only played one NBA game, yet he\u2019s already started a feisty feud with Luka Doncic.<\/p>\n
The Golden State Warriors rookie began his career Wednesday night by refusing to back down from the reigning NBA scoring champion, who punctuated their prolonged on-court exchange of trash talk by making a spectacular half-court shot in Lendeborg\u2019s face at the halftime buzzer.<\/p>\n
Doncic also won this fight decisively on the scoreboard when the Los Angeles Lakers blew out Lendeborg and the Warriors 127-105, with Doncic scoring 28 points in just three quarters.<\/p>\n
Yet Lendeborg somehow wasn\u2019t finished talking: He called out the six-time All-Star as a complainer and a free-throw merchant during his postgame news conference.<\/p>\n
More Sports from NBC News<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost all respect (for Doncic), man,\u201d Lendeborg said. \u201cThat was awful. … A lot of flopping, a lot of foul-baiting, a lot of praying to the ref, man. Interesting first game for me, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Warriors\u2019 24-year-old rookie first-round pick said he sparred with Doncic on the court because of the Slovenian superstar\u2019s constant complaining to the officials \u2014 admittedly a common feature of most games in Doncic\u2019s nine-year career.<\/p>\n
Lendeborg, who won an NCAA title with Michigan last season, said he enjoyed watching highlights of Doncic\u2019s electric scoring performances in the past \u2014 but he has a more jaded perspective on Doncic\u2019s skills now.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe getting frustrated, it\u2019s not about the foul being called,\u201d Lendeborg said. \u201cIt\u2019s about him complaining the entire game, and then you get the foul call, and congratulations, bro. And then you talk to me like you did something great? Bro, come on. That\u2019s just weak, you know? It kind of threw me off for a little while, because like I said, I had so much respect for him. Gone, man. Gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lendeborg and Doncic exchanged insults for much of the second quarter, with Lendeborg being whistled for a technical foul after saying something so loud and profane it caught the officials\u2019 attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was telling him he sucks,\u201d Lendeborg said with a smile. \u201c\u2018You can\u2019t score on me.\u2019 I said it the whole game. I said a couple of cuss words, obviously. That\u2019s why I got the technical and all that, but I was letting him know, because he was laughing and talking, all this because of that one foul call.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doncic mostly laughed off Lendeborg\u2019s provocations, but the Lakers star obviously thrives amid confrontation. He was whistled for 16 technical fouls last season, earning a one-game suspension for exceeding the single-season limit.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was talking crazy, but I wasn\u2019t trying to talk back this season,\u201d Doncic said of Lendeborg. \u201cNot trying to get techs. For the first time, that was not a double tech, because I didn\u2019t say nothing, so I\u2019m working on it. As you see, I think it worked great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doncic got the ultimate victory at the final buzzer \u2014 but his halftime win was incredibly sweet as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that was going in before I got it in my hands,\u201d Doncic said with a grin. \u201cI work on those.\u201d<\/p>\n
He got the ball near the scorer\u2019s table and let it fly with nearly 3 seconds left on the clock. When it banked through and set off pandemonium in the Lakers\u2019 downtown arena, Doncic gleefully pointed at the fuming Lendeborg, who wasn\u2019t impressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis only bucket on me was a banker from half court,\u201d Lendeborg said. \u201cI know it\u2019s a team sport. He had 28 on us as a team. Me, I took my matchup personally. Tried not to get called on the fouls. Tried my best. I was thinking about playing him with my hands behind my back to see if that worked. Probably would have still got a foul call. But interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Warriors official then steered Lendeborg away from further denigrating one of the greatest players in modern basketball, but the rookie had already done more than enough to stoke this burgeoning personal feud as a fascinating new addition to these California teams\u2019 historic rivalry.<\/p>\n
meetDoncic and Lendeborg should see each other again on Oct. 30, when the Lakers visit San Francisco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 Yaxel Lendeborg has only played one NBA game, yet he\u2019s already started a feisty feud…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":936913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-936912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=936912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}