Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg drained six 3-pointers as a foundation for a career-best 37 points and the Golden State Warriors, despite resting Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, recorded a fourth straight win, 124-112 over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night in San Francisco.
Playing on the same court on which the Golden State Valkyries captured the WNBA championship 24 hours earlier, the Warriors got 21 points from De’Anthony Melton and 17 apiece from Brandon Williams and Brandin Podziemski on the front end of a back-to-back.
Curry and Green are expected back when Golden State hosts the Phoenix Suns on Monday night.
Lendeborg, whose previous high had been 31 in a victory at Denver last Monday that began the Warriors’ winning streak, shot 13-for-19 from the field and 6-for-11 from beyond the 3-point arc. The rookie forward also found time for six assists.
Down 83-68 after a Lendeborg 3-pointer with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter, the Clippers refused to go away. They were within seven by period’s end and were down eight until Lendeborg’s fifth 3-pointer with 8:29 to go opened another double-digit lead and allowed Golden State to maintain control down the stretch.
Charles Bassey, starting at center, was the game’s leading rebounder with 10 for the Warriors. Podziemski complemented his 17 points — 15 of which came in the second half — with eight rebounds and a game-high eight assists.
Hitting four 3-pointers, Rui Hachimura had a team-high 24 points for the Clippers, who dropped their fifth straight.
Darius Garland collected a team-high seven assists to go with 15 points, reserves Kobe Sanders and Nick Martinelli added 16 and 10 points, respectively, and Kris Dunn recorded seven steals to complement 12 points for Los Angeles. The Clippers played without Brandon Ingram, Bradley Beal, Jordan Miller and Max Strus.
The visitors led by as many as 11 in the first quarter, using 3-pointers by Sanders and Brook Lopez in a 10-0 burst that put the Clippers up 37-26.
But Williams and Lendeborg had two baskets apiece when Golden State opened the second period on an 11-2 run that put the hosts on top en route to a 63-57 halftime advantage.
Lendeborg had 19 of his 37 points in the half.
