The Golden State Warriors faced a nightmarish reality check on Friday night in their first game since Stephen Curry’s oblique abdominal tear. They didn’t just suffer a brutal 123-85 blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Their standout rookie, Yaxel Lendeborg, entered the game with the pressure of carrying this shorthanded team. Instead, he endured a disastrous individual performance against a dominant San Antonio defense anchored by Victor Wembanyama.

Lendeborg was left with a lot of disappointment after a disastrous shooting night, going 1-for-13 from the field and finishing with just three points, seven rebounds, and one assist.  Meanwhile, the Warriors had 28 points in the paint, compared to the Spurs’ 56.

The Warriors’ offense completely evaporated as players shied away from the paint, opting instead for a flurry of desperate floaters. Lendeborg offered a brutally honest postgame assessment of the team’s collective anxiety and his own mental state following the 38-point drubbing.

“We got the s—- beat outta us, I don’t know what to learn, man. I was flustered the entire game, man. Couldn’t make a damn layup…,” Lendeborg told reporters in a somber visitors’ locker room at Frost Bank Center.

Reflecting on the psychological barrier presented by 7’4” Victor Wembanyama’s stature, he detailed how the team abandoned their game plan out of sheer intimidation.

“Honestly, it all kind of just felt the same. They were making more shots than us, honestly. They got Wemby… it looks like we’re playing all of our hearts… like nobody wanted to go into the paint, nobody wanted to get to the shot block line. So we were all just doing a bunch of weak-a— floaters. And it wasn’t our game. I don’t know how many of us work on those so… Especially me. I saw like seven of them in a row. I’ve never worked on a floater since JUCO.”

The Warriors’ hesitation led to Spurs’ Stephon Castle breaking out of his recent slump with 32 points in 25 minutes. Wemby had only 12 points and 12 rebounds, yet presented an imposing matchup.

Addressing his own struggles and the mental hurdle of challenging the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Lendeborg admitted that fear played a major role in his slump.

“I just wasn’t being aggressive. Like, he’s skinnier than me. I gotta go put an elbow on his chest and jump into his body or something. Like if he blocks it, he blocks it. It’s not like I can’t be going out there scared. That’s pretty much what it was. I think all of us were kind of scared in a way. But we’ll get it next time.”

When asked about moving forward from such a lopsided defeat, the rookie made it clear that he intended to sit with the discomfort rather than sweep it under the rug.

“I’m not gonna move past this. I don’t know about the rest of us. Everybody’s saying throw it out the window. I can’t throw a damn thing out the window. We just lost by like 100. So, you know, I’m f—-ed up mentally right now. We got a game in 2 days … We’ll see how we can bounce back.”

About his shooting woes tonight, Lendeborg traced the exact moment his evening unraveled mentally.

“First shot, in and out, was like, ‘yep, it’s gonna be a bad day.’ Next shot, I don’t even know what it was… once that airball head is on the floaters, like, yeah, man, it’s over. Forget the rest of the game. So I was pissed off, tried three more floaters, made one, missed the other ones… I don’t know what the hell is really going on with me, but I couldn’t make a shot, and I was over 13, so you know, that pretty much just adds to everything. But it was an awful performance by me; I let everybody on this team down. I don’t know what else I gotta do.”

Dejected by the sheer hopelessness of the blowout, the rookie rejected the notion that a long 82-game schedule makes nights like this easy to brush off.

“They keep saying it’s like 70 games left or 70 more games. I’m not gonna forget this ever. I don’t remember the last time I got beat by 70 the whole entire game with no hope at all. Like it felt helpless out there, golly. I can’t really hear much of what they’re saying. I’m cooked right now.”

The defensive clinic put on by San Antonio showcased why facing Wemby completely alters an opponent’s psychological approach. The Warriors managed a conversion rate of just 10-of-42 from the field while the Alien was actively defending the floor. The Warriors’ collective 24% success rate marks the lowest for any team that has played against the French phenom in his career.

Stephon Castle led all scorers with 32 points and six assists, while Keldon Johnson chipped in 18 points off the bench as the Spurs thoroughly outclassed the visitors across every statistical category. The Spurs dominated the glass 60-43 and converted transition opportunities into 21 fast-break points while the Warriors only had three.

While Castle quietly stuffed the box score, Wemby’s mere presence forced the Dubs away from the interior. Charles Bassey’s 11 and LJ Cryer’s 20 were the only double-digit numbers on the Warriors’ side.

Golden State dropped to 8-5 as they navigate an extended stretch without Stephen Curry, who remains sidelined for at least two weeks due to an oblique tear. With the mounting pressure to maintain their early-season momentum, the Warriors will look to regroup over two days of practice before traveling to face the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night.