Two games of thirty points or more in his first seven appearances. Before him, at the Warriors, Wilt Chamberlain and Rick Barry. And the last franchise rookie to score more than his thirty-seven against the Clippers was Stephen Curry, forty-two, in April 2010.
At my place, that’s a three-name introduction. I can see it. The caretaker switches off half the strip lights, and he keeps the other half because he always keeps the other half. The two school fête spotlights on the baseline.
“Mesdames et messieurs, dames en heren. He joins the legends. Number one: Wilt… Chamberlain. Number two: Rick… Barry. And tonight, thirty-seven points, a rookie, the third name.” [jingle] Two-second pause. “Yaxel… Lendeborg!”
That’s what it deserves. The richest league in the world has a rookie joining two legends. Me, I’ve got two school fête spotlights and a caretaker, and I’d already have brought him out in the dark.
The best part is that he cut his own moment short. His bench wanted forty, so he forced it. He said so himself: “We almost lost because of that. Next time, I’ll stay in the rhythm of the game.” A rookie who refuses the end of the jingle. I’ve rarely heard that.
Thirty-seven, it’s on the sheet. The three points that are missing don’t have a column.
Steve Kerr said: “That changes everything about his potential.” On the mic, you don’t say potential, you say a name.
On Saturday my sound system refused the jingle, it was chucking it down, a hundred people instead of a hundred and fifty. I did it live, with my voice. Just saying.
It’s true, we checked: Basket USA.
