Yaxel Lendeborg has been simply sensational for the Golden State Warriors, but an injury to Stephen Curry on Wednesday night further pushes the franchise toward overloading the rookie forward with too much responsibility.
Lendeborg once again impressed in the first half after Curry left the game during the first quarter with an abdominal injury, only for the 11th overall pick to run out of steam in the second half as the Warriors' eight-game winning streak came to an end with a 115-105 defeat.
Warriors risk overloading Yaxel Lendeborg after Stephen Curry injury
Lendeborg still finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds in another strong performance, but he had 18 and eight in the first half alone to help the visitors back into the game despite their incredibly short-handed rotation.
Things appeared bleak for Golden State when they found themselves down 35-20 and without Curry for the rest of the game. Lendeborg stood up with some more dazzling shot-making though, and he was able supported by Brandin Podziemski as the Warriors cut the Rockets lead to just five at half time.
Was Lendeborg's seven-point, two-rebound second half a sign of fatigue? Perhaps that played a significant role, particularly given Houston were able to further focus their defense on the 24-year-old without the threat of Curry on the floor.
It remains to be seen how much time Curry will miss, but the Warriors have already put such an offensive burden on Lendeborg that will only increase if the two-time MVP is sidelined for any period going forward. Lendeborg played over 36 minutes on Wednesday night, and will now have to recover quickly before another daunting challenge against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.
Warriors are running out of offensive options after Stephen Curry injury
The problem for Steve Kerr is that if he doesn't continue riding Lendeborg for heavy minutes and with major offensive usage, it's hard to see where else the offense comes from after the Warriors were kept to 40.2% shooting from the floor and 32% from three-point range.
This was a more than admirable performance from Golden State, having entered as underdogs even before their best player left the floor less than six minutes into the game. The bigger issue is what it means moving forward, and whether the Warriors have enough offense (and healthy bodies) to not let their current momentum fall flat.
Outside Lendeborg, only Podziemski (19 points), LJ Cryer (13 points) and De'Anthony Melton (11 points) reached double figures for a team that entered the game with the second-ranked offense in the league.
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