The Golden State Warriors are on the right track after a bumpy start, and will get an early second shot at the same Los Angeles Lakers that handed them a 20+ point loss to open the season. Since then, the Warriors took some time to figure it out, but have now seemingly turned a corner - now it’s time to pressure test it!
The Lakers have been trouncing through the Western Conference, with comfortable wins over the Clippers (twice) and Jazz - and one lone loss being in a high-scoring affair with the all-gas-no-brakes Portland Trail Blazers.
This is going to be a great test for Golden State. The Lakers have clearly defined strengths (offense) and clearly defined vulnerabilities on the defensive side of the ball. But can the Warriors come up with a game plan that takes advantage of this knowledge, and will their personnel be able to pull it off?
GAME DETAILS
WHO: Golden State Warriors (2-3) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (4-1)
WHEN: Friday, October 30th, 2026; 7pm PDT
WATCH: [shakes magic hat] AMAZON! Tonight’s answer is Amazon Prime
Injuries: Gui Santos still listed (Doubtful), Lendeborg no longer appears on Warriors injury report.
44 points and a dream
“This is my first experience of the Steph Curry magic,” rookie Yaxel Lendeborg told reporters after the game.
“A couple plays, I was just shaking my head, running down court like, ‘Wow, man. This is the Steph Curry I was seeing on TV.’
He’d just seen Curry run up 44 points (on a wildly efficient 27 field goal attempts) to go along with 8 rebounds and 6 assists - oh, and two steals. All in just 32 minutes of play time. Curry is now ranked 4th in the NBA, scoring 28.8 points per game, but the coolest and newest part of this story is that the team seems to be coalescing. A singular basketball system designed with one thing in mind.
Curry’s window is still there. Even at 38 years old.
We’ve seen this before, a roster that may not have come together fully as envisioned, is still somehow able to pull itself into an asset that is strong enough to buttress Curry’s greatness.
The rookie is playing well, that’s a huge part of it. But there’s a parallel Weaponized Joy-adjacent outlook that feels so congruous. Like Curry and Green’s well documented and long-established fit - and more recently that with Jimmy Butler - there’s a growing symbiosis with Yax and Curry. Rooted in good pure basketball, but going deeper. Yax is playing with his superhero:
"I caught myself shaking my head, like, wow, a couple times...Once he got out of the game, it's like this is my opportunity to help him out, help (make) his greatness worthwhile.
The Warriors have picked up a couple of strong wins, but are still a clear step down from the most dominant teams of this young season. What comes next here will be interesting. Curry is calibrated. Fresh off not missing a shot against the Denver Nuggets, he blew up the stat sheet - and hasn’t missed a free throw yet this season. They aren’t full strength, but this is a fully operational battle station!
Luka Doncic and the Lakers are a perfect test for this team because of how much pressure Doncic and the Lakers offense will put against the whole Warriors squad. The 22-point beating that opened the season for the Warriors is still ringing in the collective ears of the NBA, but memories are short around the league.
Tonight’s battle features a couple of teams that are running similar models: a top-tier megastar with the right assembly of players around them rather than a stockpile of similar top end talent (plus whatever else is needed to fill out the roster). The Warriors have some top tier talent returning with Butler, but it remains to be seen how he’ll fare after major knee surgery.
Just like we are all shooting through the Universe at the speed of light,1 so too is the NBA rocketing ahead with a relative pace that makes it so hard to stay on top of the pile. In Yaxel Lendeborg, the Warriors have found a player that they’ve been looking for forever. Seriously, I can’t think of an era where Yax wouldn’t be demanding minutes as a rookie. He’s that good.
Curry will be primarily responsible for making Luka and the Lakers feel the pressure, but Yaxel is the X-Factor that could be applying heat from the bottom. What if this new rookie is good enough to also push Luka and the Lakers? In their first and only matchup, both sides had plenty to say. Yes, Luka lit the Warriors up (28 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, and three steals) and the Warriors were soundly trounced, but few of those points came while covered by Yax.
From that first game (it didn’t go so well)
The Lakers led 53-48 with less than three minutes left in the second quarter when Lendeborg started jawing at Doncic.
“You cannot f–king guard me, man,” Doncic seemed to say after drawing a foul, then started clapping as if he were getting riled up. Lendeborg was instantly subbed out.
Getting run over by better, more experienced players is part of the rites of passage for any NBA rookie, but there’s a more rare event to consider here. Sometimes the rookie backs is up. Yax, for his part has promised to keep running his mouth - if perhaps with a bit more restraint - saying about Luka, “he’s Not Michael Jordan.”
Curry has spent the first week of the season reminding everyone that his window is still open. The Warriors are starting to look like they understand how to make the most of it, and Lendeborg is giving them another way to do it. He doesn’t have to shut down Luka Doncic, and he certainly doesn’t have to win a trash-talk contest. But if he can make Luka work, punish the Lakers when they give him space, and keep feeding off the chaos Curry creates, then this matchup gets a lot more interesting.
Curry is already cooking. The question is whether Yax and the rest of the team can turn up the heat.
Prediction
Dubs win, me and my family dress up in our costumes and go out.
I love this team. I love this holiday!
A very happy Halloween weekend to you, Dub Nation! And go Valks!
Music Friday
I just watched an incredible stop-motion movie - no not that one - it was on Netflix. Really good, you should watch it (called Wendell and Wild) this Halloween too. Anyways, reminded me of this spooky good classic.
It’s true. And very trippy to think about.