The Lakers beat the Warriors a hundred and twenty-seven to a hundred and five. Season opener, a Wednesday. Luka Doncic finishes on twenty-eight points, rookie Yaxel Lendeborg on twelve. Noted.
What interests me is the fouls column. Lendeborg took four guarding Doncic. Plus a technical, for a few swear words, by his own account. He also said he told Doncic all game long that he sucked and couldn’t score on him. That doesn’t fit in any column. Not at our place either. The sheet records what the referee whistles, not what gets said in the second quarter.
Afterwards came the conversation. Lendeborg talked about flopping and running to the refs. Doncic said he was trying not to answer back this season, to avoid technicals. Steve Kerr said three of his player’s fouls probably wouldn’t be fouls in any other league in the world, and that the technical, with none on the other side, was “kind of ridiculous”, he said, according to BasketNews.
Three fouls that wouldn’t be fouls elsewhere. I see the idea. But I don’t keep the sheet elsewhere. I keep it where the game is played. Five fouls is five. Over there they hand out six, and the rookie still had two in reserve.
Doncic also hit a halfcourt shot at the buzzer before the break. End of a seventeen to four run. Sixty-six, fifty-two. The buzzer’s gone. After that, it’s just talk.
Sheet line: four fouls, one technical, three that probably wouldn’t be fouls elsewhere, according to the coach. Elsewhere has no column. It’s on the sheet.
It’s true, we checked: BasketNews.
