Kobe Bryant participated in the first 75 minutes of Los Angeles Lakers practice on Monday, after missing two consecutive games to rest, per Byron Scott’s decision. Scott says he’ll be “penciling” Bryant in for tomorrow’s game against Miami, but that’s pending on how he thinks Bryant feels both in the morning and before game time.
Bryant went through plenty of shooting drills and 5-0 offensive drills at practice on Monday and Scott says if Bryant does play in both Tuesday and Thursday’s games, he would definitely sit him for Friday’s game, which is the second night of a back-to-back.
In a way, Scott admits he’s trying to make up for playing Bryant too many minutes to start the season. After Monday’s practice, Scott accepted blame for giving Bryant too much of a workload at the beginning of the season, saying he “messed up.”
What I ended up finding out was when he hit the 33-minute plateau, when he went over that, his game went down, so that four or five minutes was crucial.”
With Bryant back at practice today, Nick Young said Kobe looked even “more focused” out there. Young said the uncertainty of whether or not Bryant will play really does not affect his own game.
What are the Lakers missing without Bryant?
We don’t have a closer,” Scott said at practice. “When it comes down to it at the end of the game, you still need that closer.
The Lakers return to Staples Center on Tuesday to take on the Miami Heat. They face the Cleveland Cavaliers at home on Thursday and travel to Utah on Friday to face the Jazz.
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