Two takeovers, four complete stories. Luka puts on an MVP clinic, Yaxel makes rookie history, Boston finishes strong, and Brooklyn finally breaks through.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2026 · ALL 4 GAMES FINAL · ORIGINAL 4DK ANALYSIS
Yaxel Lendeborg’s 37 without Stephen Curry or Draymond Green made this one of the toughest Player of the Night calls of the young season. We are not treating the rookie’s breakout as a consolation prize. He carried Golden State through a real deficit and delivered a performance that belongs in the conversation with the best games of any player on Sunday. But Luka’s 45 came with fifteen rebounds, six assists and five steals, and he had to return to protect a lead that almost disappeared. That complete statistical footprint gives him the edge.
Eight made threes are the obvious headline. The bigger point is the range of control: Dončić scored from deep, pulled down rebounds that finished possessions, found teammates when Toronto loaded up, and generated defensive events with five steals. A 5–2 Lakers team can build a serious early MVP argument around that kind of night. It also needs to make sure it does not require a 45-point rescue act every time a fourth-quarter lead becomes uncomfortable.
4DK podium: Yaxel Lendeborg — 37 points and six assists in Golden State’s fourth straight win; Jayson Tatum — 32 and seven assists in Boston’s road closeout; Michael Porter Jr. — 23 and nine rebounds as Brooklyn earns its first victory.
4DK / ROOKIE WATCH
YAXEL LENDEBORG. THIS IS NO LONGER A SMALL SAMPLE OF HIGHLIGHTS.
Thirty-seven points on 13-for-19 shooting, six three-pointers and six assists against the Clippers, with Curry and Green out. This is why Lendeborg has occupied the top of our early Rookie Watch. His game is not built around one hot shooting trick. He can finish, space the floor and make the next pass, and his decision-making stayed under control while Golden State asked him to carry a much larger share of the offense.
The history makes the performance louder. His 37 were the most by a Warriors rookie since Curry’s 42 in April 2010. Two 30-point outings in his first seven games put him in exceptionally rare franchise company. We will not pretend the race is over in early November — Cam Boozer, Caleb Wilson and the rest of this class still have plenty of season ahead — but Sunday raised the standard for everyone chasing him. It also raised Golden State’s expectations for what its rookie can do on nights the veteran stars need rest.
GAME 01 / SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1
BOSTON GETS PUSHED. TATUM AND THE DEFENSE PUSH BACK HARDER.
BOSTON CELTICS 108 — ORLANDO MAGIC 97
Boston 5–1 · Orlando 2–4
Jayson Tatum (BOS): 32 PTS, 4 REB, 7 AST · Paul George: 17 PTS, 6 REB, 8 AST · Anthony Black (ORL): 23 PTS, 8 REB · Tristan da Silva: 23 PTS, 10 REB · Franz Wagner: 14 PTS, 12 AST
The most revealing part of Boston’s fifth consecutive victory was not the final eleven-point margin. It was how many different versions of the game the Celtics had to survive before earning it. Orlando came out with a 13–4 punch, the kind of start that tests whether a visiting contender will match its opponent’s energy or try to coast on reputation. Boston responded by taking the first quarter, 24–23, and slowly built a cushion through disciplined possessions, even without a particularly clean perimeter-shooting night.
Tatum gave the Celtics a steady offensive answer when their jumpers would not cooperate. His 32 points came with seven assists and an especially important 15-for-17 night at the foul line. That is a different form of control from simply getting hot beyond the arc. When Orlando tried to turn every possession into a scramble, Boston could still place the ball in its best creator’s hands and manufacture a productive trip. Tatum even had to leave briefly after a first-quarter head collision, then returned and continued setting the terms.
The Magic deserve credit for refusing to disappear. Without Paolo Banchero, they needed a collective response, and Tristan da Silva supplied it with five three-pointers and a 23-point, 10-rebound double-double. Anthony Black matched his 23 points and supplied aggressive downhill pressure. Franz Wagner’s 12 assists showed how Orlando tried to compensate for missing primary scoring: move the ball, find the next open man and force Boston to defend a second and third action. A 15-point Celtics advantage evaporated, and Orlando tied the game at 72 late in the third before reaching 79–79 early in the fourth.
But that is where the difference between competing and closing became obvious. Boston answered the 79–79 tie with an 18–6 surge. Neemias Queta delivered two late blocks that prevented Orlando from making one final push, and George’s three with 1:32 remaining stretched the lead to 106–95. George finished with 17 points and eight assists, but his value was bigger than the box score: another veteran decision-maker who could punish the Magic for loading up on Tatum.
For 4DK, this is the kind of road win that carries more weight than a comfortable blowout. Boston was tested by a desperate, shorthanded opponent, did not shoot its best, and still found a closing gear. Orlando has young talent and competitive stretches, but its 0–3 home start illustrates the gap between promising bursts and the reliable late-game execution required to climb the East.
TURNING POINT — With the score tied 79–79 in the fourth, Boston’s 18–6 response flipped the night. Queta’s late rim protection and George’s dagger three finished the job.
4DK OUTLOOK — Boston reaches 5–1 with five straight wins and strengthens its early East case. Orlando falls to 2–4; without Banchero, converting strong stretches into complete games remains the challenge.
BROOKLYN FINALLY GETS ONE. INDIANA CAN’T FIND AN ANSWER.
BROOKLYN NETS 98 — INDIANA PACERS 90
Brooklyn 1–5 · Indiana 2–5
Michael Porter Jr. (BKN): 23 PTS, 9 REB · Julius Randle: 20 PTS, 6 AST · Day’Ron Sharpe: 15 PTS, 13 REB · Andrew Nembhard (IND): 23 PTS · Pascal Siakam: 17 PTS
Not every first win is pretty. Sometimes a team has to earn the right to stop talking about the losing streak before it can talk about anything bigger. Brooklyn came into Indianapolis winless, and for long stretches this looked like a game in which both teams were fighting their own offensive limitations as much as each other. The Nets shot just 38 percent in the first half, yet still carried a 43–40 lead into the break because Indiana could not consistently generate clean looks either.
Michael Porter Jr. gave Brooklyn the kind of scoring reliability it has lacked through the opening stretch. His 23 points and nine rebounds were not a one-man rescue act, but they gave the Nets a primary option capable of making a defense react. Julius Randle added 20 points and six assists, giving Brooklyn a second source of pressure and a player comfortable making decisions when the offense slowed. Day’Ron Sharpe’s 15 points and 13 rebounds were every bit as important to the identity of the win: second chances, physicality and an advantage on the glass. Brooklyn won the rebounding battle 43–37.
The decisive shift came immediately after halftime. A 9–0 Brooklyn run turned a fragile three-point edge into a working margin, and the Nets pushed the advantage to twelve on multiple occasions during the third quarter. That stretch matters because it was not built on a sudden barrage of impossible shots. It came from sustaining pressure long enough to force Indiana into the kind of possessions that had already been troubling the Pacers in the first half.
Indiana did not surrender. Andrew Nembhard scored 23, Pascal Siakam added 17, and consecutive threes from Larry Nance Jr. and Nembhard cut the deficit to 75–72 early in the fourth. That was the moment a winless team could have panicked. Instead, Brooklyn protected the ball well enough to keep the Pacers at arm’s length, and a late Randle three restored a double-digit cushion. Indiana never got closer than three.
The Pacers have legitimate injury context, including the absence of Tyrese Haliburton, and that cannot be ignored. But context is not a substitute for execution. Indiana struggled to create rhythm against a team that entered the night 0–5, and the fourth consecutive defeat will demand a response. For Brooklyn, the win does not erase the difficult start. It establishes a foundation: rebounding, two dependable scoring options and enough fourth-quarter composure to finish the job.
TURNING POINT — Brooklyn opened the second half 9–0, then survived Indiana’s push to 75–72 early in the fourth. Randle’s late three helped shut the door.
4DK OUTLOOK — The Nets move to 1–5 and finally have a result to build on. Indiana drops to 2–5 with a fourth straight loss; its short-handed offense needs more reliable creation.
We have spent the opening weeks talking about Yaxel Lendeborg as a serious Rookie of the Year candidate. Sunday gave us a different question: how long before the conversation becomes bigger than rookie rankings? Stephen Curry and Draymond Green were resting, the Clippers came out swinging, and the Warriors needed somebody to take ownership of the game. Lendeborg answered with 37 points on 13-for-19 shooting, six made threes and six assists. That is not just impressive rookie production. That is a star-level offensive performance in a game Golden State needed to win.
Los Angeles started by putting 37 points on the board in the first quarter and led 37–29. A younger Warriors lineup could have interpreted that as permission to wait for its veterans to return. Instead, Golden State turned the game with a 34–20 second quarter and went into halftime up 63–57. The reversal revealed something encouraging about the roster: even without Curry’s gravity and Green’s orchestration, there are enough playmakers and shooters to change a game’s rhythm.
Lendeborg’s scoring was the centerpiece, but his decision-making made the performance feel sustainable rather than accidental. He did not need to force thirty difficult attempts to reach 37. He found clean shooting windows, attacked the space Los Angeles surrendered and kept teammates involved. Midway through the third, five straight points from the rookie pushed Golden State’s lead to 83–68, its largest margin to that point. That was the sequence that turned an early Clippers advantage into a Warriors-controlled night.
De’Anthony Melton provided the veteran perimeter punch, finishing with 21 points and six threes. Two late triples were particularly valuable when the Clippers’ reserves threatened to make the fourth quarter uncomfortable. Brandin Podziemski’s 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists gave Golden State connective playmaking across possessions. Rui Hachimura scored 24 for the Clippers, but Los Angeles could not match the Warriors’ sustained shot creation after its explosive opening quarter.
Golden State has now won four straight and moved above .500 at 4–3. Lendeborg’s 37 were the most by a Warriors rookie since Curry’s 42 in April 2010, and his second 30-point game in his first seven appearances placed him in rare franchise company. We do not need to declare his entire career after seven games. We do need to recognize what is already happening: the Warriors have found a rookie who can carry offense when their established stars sit. For a team trying to stay dangerous in the West, that changes the ceiling of its depth. For the Clippers, a 1–5 start is becoming a genuine problem rather than a brief stumble.
TURNING POINT — After trailing 37–29 through one, Golden State won the second quarter 34–20. Lendeborg’s five straight points in the third created a 15-point cushion, and Melton’s late threes prevented a comeback.
4DK OUTLOOK — The Warriors improve to 4–3 with four straight wins and a growing rookie centerpiece. The Clippers fall to 1–5; their early scoring bursts are not translating into sustained control.
Luka Dončić is making a habit of turning an ordinary November date into an MVP argument. Forty-five points, fifteen rebounds, six assists, five steals and eight three-pointers: that is a night that demands attention on its own. The Lakers needed every bit of the production, too, because what looked like a comfortable response to their previous loss turned into another late-game test of composure. Los Angeles won 131–125, but the six-point margin tells a different story from the 22-point advantage it carried into the fourth quarter.
Dončić controlled the opening half with the scoring touch of a player who already knows where every defensive adjustment is coming. He had 16 points in the first quarter and 24 by halftime. Toronto tried to make the Lakers play through a crowd, but Luka’s perimeter shotmaking stretched that crowd until the driving and passing windows appeared. A 23–6 Los Angeles run helped flip an early deficit, and the Lakers led 66–54 at the break. By the end of the third, they were ahead 104–82.
That cushion was built on more than one superstar. Austin Reaves contributed 19 points and remained a secondary creator. Walker Kessler gave the Lakers a real interior presence with 16 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. The combination mattered: when Luka forced the Raptors to extend their defense, Kessler could occupy the paint and punish smaller looks. Los Angeles shot better than 53 percent from the field and nearly 49 percent from three. When the ball was moving and the spacing was right, Toronto had no comfortable answer.
Then the fourth quarter exposed the part of the Lakers’ profile that still needs work. Toronto outscored Los Angeles 43–27 in the period, finding energy through Scottie Barnes, who finished with 29 points, and RJ Barrett, who added 22 and ten rebounds. The Raptors were playing without Kawhi Leonard, but their willingness to pressure the ball and keep attacking made the closing minutes much more difficult than they needed to be. When Los Angeles briefly emptied its bench late, Toronto ripped off eleven points in forty seconds and forced the starters back onto the floor. The Raptors eventually cut the deficit to five with under a minute remaining.
Los Angeles did enough to survive, and Dončić’s return to the floor helped restore order. The Lakers are 5–2, and the top-end offensive ceiling is obvious. Yet the lesson from this game cannot simply be that Luka scored 45. Good teams finish the game they have already taken control of. Toronto’s 43-point fourth quarter should be on the film tomorrow. With the Power 30 conversation heating up, the Lakers have both a signature individual performance and another reminder that defensive discipline must travel with the offense. For Toronto, Barnes continues to show that he can carry a large share of the scoring burden while Leonard is unavailable; the challenge is turning that fight into wins.
TURNING POINT — Los Angeles built a 104–82 lead after three, but Toronto won the fourth 43–27 and cut it to five late. Dončić’s return and the Lakers’ final possessions protected the win.
4DK OUTLOOK — The Lakers reach 5–2 behind another elite Luka performance, but the late defensive collapse demands attention. Toronto slips to 3–3 and has lost three of four with Leonard sidelined.