Summer League Game 3 wrap: Yaxel vs Boozer; no injuries, mission successful
Grizz rain 3s, break GSW win streak
Yaxel (15 PTS, 9 REB, 3 AST, 2 STL, 4 TO, 6-12) slightly outdueled Boozer (12 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 3 STL, 2 TO, 4-12) in the box score but Yax was a whopping -28 and Boozer was +35. So, a mixed bag.
The matchup felt fairly even, as the game was really decided when Javon Small detonated and then Brendan Hausen continued the flame throwing. MEM shot 17-32 (53.1%) from three and a lot of those were contested. If MEM makes a more typical 12-32 (37.5%), that’s a bonus 15 points from variance, which was most of the margin of victory.
Also, our Yaxelotl has continued to fill the box score. After today’s MEM game, Yaxel now is #2 behind Burries in 2026 Summer League BPM. They rank #4 and #2 respectively ALL-TIME in BPM across all Summer Leagues.
I WANT TO BELIEVE!
Apricot’s Focused Live Game Notes
Hey Jeremy Lin on the broadcast.
Alright, I’m gonna actually take notes on the third quarter here because this is the first competitive summer league quarter that this team has had.
And Yaxel Lendeborg will be guarding Cameron Boozer, who’s an actual NBA talent. So let’s go.
Third Quarter
9:20 — Yaxel Lendeborg runs the play, LJ with a little flare. Yaxel airmails the pass into the stands. Seems to take responsibility for the mix-up with LJ Cryer.
Not crazy about how Yaxel defensively let off-ball Lovering get inside position on him on that drive.
It’s just a straight ISO with everyone clearing out, Yaxel being guarded by Cameron Boozer, and Yaxel managed to step out of bounds. Not a great first minute here.
8:50 — The Warriors are actually trapping very aggressively.
And any time you can get Malevy Leons driving from the weak side corner, you gotta do it. Miss.
8:20 — Will Richard with a nice baseline drive and a pass to Graham Ike. It seemed like Will had an easier layup than the floater Graham Ike ended up taking. Then Will Richard and Graham Ike simultaneously block a shot into dust.
7:54 — Yaxel ends up flying into the stands, trying to save a ball. Good defense from LJ Cryer.
Yax gets switched onto Javon Small. Posted up. Good seal. Then the dish to Graham Ike who muffs the floater.
7:22 — Golly, Cameron Boozer showing that three-pointer might be for real?
This time Graham Ike posts up and gets to run the split cut. Will Richard ends up driving towards the basket and he gets stripped. Will is not a great finisher. Rarely dunks it.
7:03 — Will Richard tries to bump out LJ Cryer to guard Lovering, but the message is not received. If Lovering were athletic at all, that would have been a highlight dunk.
6:35 — Will Richard tries that inverted screen for Yaxel and gets him an open three, then ends up in the stands for good. On the other end, Lajae Jones ends up with some extremely good distance, sliding along the ground into the baseline stands. Everyone flying around in a frictionless sandbox.
And Yaxel with a good little step through to get on the board.
6:20 — Tyler Burton tries to barbecue Yaxel. Yax thought he got the block and he’s rather emotional. Good to see the emotion.
6:05 — Lachlan Olbrich in now. I don’t know if that was an illegal screen. Just because he got good contact doesn’t mean it was illegal.
5:35 — Wow, Yaxel muscle-drived Carson Cooper to the ground and then got the easy follow-up to go. But now he’s looking like he’s walking in some pain.
5:24 — They’re actually letting Yaxel stay in the game. You know, it’s summer league. Maybe you don’t want to mess with these little knick-knack injuries.
4:30 — Lajae Jones and Jacksen Moni are not on the same page as to whether he wants a screen or not. He gets mostly to the rim but muffs the layup. Yaxel in cleanup mode then goes into bulldoze mode again and bullies his way to another basket.
Definitely did not call bank on that super lucky shot from Memphis.
3:10 — They let McMillian handle the offense for a couple plays in a row, and he really got his chances (get it?), fitting in a tremendous number of dribbles in a short amount of time. He got swallowed up by the defense though. On the other end, perhaps annoyed by that possession, he comes up with a steal.
2:27 — They’ve got Malevy Leons guarding Cameron Boozer now. And then Graham Ike gets him on a switch, but Boozer’s pretty much irrelevant to the play. Memphis has been bombing in threes and the Warriors have had the aforementioned discombobulated offense, which has led to Memphis tearing out to a 15-point lead. I might have had the bad luck of watching the worst quarter of the whole summer league for the Warriors.
1:58 — Malevy Leons turns that into a split cut for LJ Cryer who then air balls a floater.
1:41 — Kind of odd for Memphis to be putting Cameron Boozer out of the play in the far corner, but whatever, it’s their team.
1:02 — Yaxel’s back in. Despite his complaints about his own conditioning, he does seem to have had a fair number of minutes this quarter. Yaxel’s guarding Lawson Lovering now. Cameron Boozer tries to bully Lajae Jones, but Yaxel comes over with the blind side block. Lawson Lovering ends up with free throws on the put back.
0:46 — LJ Cryer, when he’s got time and space, really does have a smooth stroke.
Well, the Warriors did not play great, but I don’t think they were 20 points worse than Memphis that quarter. Just variance from Memphis on the three-point shooting and also some non-random badness on the offensive end via turnovers and ISOs and ball handling from players who won’t be expected to.
Post-3Q interview with Yaxel Lendeborg
Alright, let’s listen to Yaxel, who’s well on track to becoming first team All-NBA quote.
Q: “Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg. We were noticing your ability to take contact and still be able to affect a play on a second effort or a second jump. What’s it take to be able to execute that at this level?”
“Well I mean I’m the person to know if I’m gonna make or miss a shot, you know so I mean it’s pretty much it’s all about just having to time it down to uh know what the ball’s coming off the rim. Just physical, kind of trying to play as physical as possible. It’s kind of tough a little bit right now. I haven’t really been making as much as I could, you know, but I mean I’m gonna continue to keep trying to push forward and create as much as I can for myself.”
Honest but not going to make social media waves.
Fourth Quarter
9:16 — I wonder how long they’ll leave Yaxel and LJ Cryer in. Maybe they’ll give them five minutes to try to get the game closer.
8:55 — Yaxel gambles on the swing pass to Cameron Boozer. Gamble not successful and Cameron Boozer ends up getting another free lane to the basket.
8:24 — Hey, they’ve got Will Richard back in too.
8:05 — Yaxel getting the dribble handoff from Will Richard inverted style, and that causes Will Richard’s smaller defender to switch on to Yaxel. Yaxel then proceeds to bludgeon him all the way to the basket. Then gets a miss and then another Yaxel put back.
7:56 — The Warriors have gone to a lot of trapping in order to try to pull this game back into reach, but they’re just giving up a lot of free throws. The Nick Boyd / Jacksen Moni pick and roll ends up in an illegal screen.
7:21 — Alright, I think it may not be the Warriors’ night. Memphis is definitely on fire from three.
7:01 — Will Richard trying to take over a little bit. Does manage to put in the step back three to cut the lead to twenty-four.
6:41 — Lajae Jones with a pretty nice finish through a lot of contact. Good to see. Nick Boyd and Yaxel both with quick reflexes to pick them up off the ground.
6:30 — That was more Memphis fire throwing from three, but I don’t really know what Yaxel was doing on that play defensively. Kind of staying in the vicinity of the play but not really guarding anybody.
Nick Boyd steps out of bounds. That pick and roll was looking okay until that moment.
5:45 — Yaxel is looking a little bit wiped out.
5:21 — Lajae Jones is showing a little bit more activity there. Another good drive to the basket.
I don’t think I fully registered that it’s been MEM Brendan Hausen hitting every single one of these on-fire threes this quarter.
5:00 — Memphis is actually running plays. They had one version of that baseline out of bounds play earlier (I think at Q3.1:02), which ended up with Cameron Boozer getting a back screen to rip cut, and then Boozer got a mismatch against a small. This time, same rip cut, same back screen, but then the back screener gets a cross screen to pop out for three. Are we allowed to run plays and play counters? Don’t you only do that against organized defenses?
4:53 — I saw some people complaining about having reviews in summer league towards the end of games, but you know it’s summer league for everybody — the referees and the video crew and everybody else. They gotta get their reps in as well.
4:51 — Woo-hoo! Tyler Burton missed both free throws! At once! Then LJ Cryer takes on the world and gets a nice floater to go. Then Cryer some good active rotation there to stop the drive from Tyler Burton.
Did that graphic imply that Lester Quiñones is playing for the Orlando Magic in summer league?? Honorary Warrior!
4:04 — All right, beautiful to watch Malevy Leons hitting a three-pointer with a fully functional right hand.
3:46 — Wow. Javon Small with a gorgeous split of the double team there. The Warriors have sliced it to seventeen with three minutes to go. Unfortunately, they give it to Malevy Leons to drive from the wing and he promptly coughs it up. LJ Cryer with a take foul on Cedric Coward, but I don’t know, Yaxel seemed to be lining that up for a chase down block.
3:24 — Long review of the foul. Remember that generous thing I said about summer league being summer league for officials also. Yeah, forget all that. This is taking way too long.
By my calculations, the Warriors only need to hit one three-pointer every 30 seconds and make sure that Memphis doesn’t score. Not likely, but there’s the blueprint.
Huh, that was unexpected. So that was not even a take foul. He’s just gonna get normal free throws. I had no idea that a take foul was not possible if the foulee is already in the act of shooting.
3:05 — Hey, they ran that flare horns play for Yaxel. Yaxel is the flarer. He does not get the ball, and stands there looking tired.
LJ Cryer is thoroughly in the too good for summer league zone. LJ Cryer got the switch from Cameron Boozer and then, well didn’t really savor the isolation and instead tried a running one-legged free throw jumper. Who does he think he is, Marine Johannes?
Then Yaxel with another brute force bully ball layup through Cameron Boozer.
I guess this is a good sign that Yaxel is trying to make something happen even if his shot isn’t falling. It’s ugly but effective on offense.
1:34 — Will Richard blocked by Taylor Hendricks. Remember that thing I said about Will Richard having some trouble finishing around the rim? That creative layup was sent back quickly.
Cedric Coward rejected by Malevy Leons. Having a rough game today.
1:11 — Okay, by my calculations, if the Warriors can hit one three pointer every ten seconds, they’ll be right back in this game.
Chance McMillian hits two threes in a row, right according to plan. I don’t know why Yaxel is stepping up to screen now. They’ve been letting Jacksen Moni do all the screening in the second half.
And thus endeth a somewhat instructive and pretty unfun watch.