Warriors ride Yaxel Lendeborg's 37 points past Clippers for fourth straight win

Two nights after the worst game of his short NBA career, Yaxel Lendeborg carried a shorthanded Golden State Warriors team to a 124-112 win over the LA Clippers at Chase Center on Sunday. The rookie forward scored a game-high 37 points on 13-of-19 shooting, hit 6 of 11 from 3-point range and added six assists and four rebounds. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green both sat out the first night of a back-to-back.

The win was Golden State's fourth in a row, after an 0-3 start. As NBC Sports Bay Area pointed out, it was also a sharp turnaround from Friday's win over the Lakers, when Lendeborg fouled out with six points. This time he had 19 by halftime on 7-of-8 shooting and wasn't called for his first foul until about seven minutes remained. AFP noted that no Warriors rookie had scored more in a game since Curry put up 42 in 2010.

The San Francisco Chronicle described a more measured Lendeborg. He went at Darius Garland on switches, drew help into the paint and kicked the ball out, finishing the first half with three assists and no turnovers. Then he started shooting over Rui Hachimura. With the game in hand late, he went looking for 40 but missed three straight 3-pointers. When the Clippers cut the lead to eight, Steve Kerr closed the game with Lendeborg on the bench, and De'Anthony Melton hit the 3-pointers that put it away.

The Warriors also gave away seven turnovers in the third quarter, which shrank a double-digit lead to seven going into the fourth. They committed just three turnovers in the final period. Kerr told AFP the rookie is still learning the league on the fly, calling his early-season impact "remarkable."

What it means for Monday against Phoenix

The Warriors are 4-3 and host the Phoenix Suns on Monday to finish the back-to-back. Phoenix handed Golden State one of its three opening losses, 131-122 on the road, in the first game the Warriors played without Curry this season. Since then the Warriors have beaten Denver by 20, won at Minnesota, beaten the Lakers by 17 and now handled the Clippers.

Golden State rested Curry and Green on Sunday with Monday in mind. Sports Illustrated reported that neither veteran is expected to play both games of back-to-backs this season, and Curry has been managing his right knee. If both come back, Lendeborg goes from carrying the offense to playing next to the team's two most important veterans. His jump from six points to 37 shows how much his output can swing.

The Warriors are favored on this site's board, which covers 12 venues. On Novig, one of those venues, Golden State is -174 on the moneyline, where $100 returns $57.47 in profit, and Phoenix is +167. Novig has the Warriors at -4.5 on the spread at even money (-100) and the Suns at +4.5 at -104. On the total, Novig lists 228.5 with the over at -100. BetRivers has the best over price on the board, -106 at 227.5. The venues are fairly close: sportsbook hold ranges from 3.2% to 5.0% on the moneyline, 2.9% to 5.0% on the spread and 3.4% to 4.9% on the total.