After their 98-95 victory over the Sacramento Kings, the Los Angeles Lakers took to the practice floor on Wednesday to begin their preparations for a three-game road trip.
Kobe Bryant took the day off of practice to rest. After last night’s game, Bryant smiled, but told the media he was hurting. During halftime, he said he took the time to lay down, rest and mentally prepare for the second half.
In crunch time, Lakers head coach Byron Scott moved Kobe to the point against the Kings, allowing him to control the offense. Scott says fans should expect to see that again over this three-game road trip.
It’s something I’ve been thinking about. I don’t know if you’re going to see it on a regular basis, but I’m pretty sure you’re going to see it the next three games.”
Scott even said he’s thought about starting Bryant at the point and has even discussed it with Bryant, but also said he’s not ready to make that decision anytime soon.
The second unit last night with Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin coming off the bench alongside Nick Young, Wayne Ellington, and Robert Sacre was very effective. Boozer led the bench with 15 points, breaking Nick Young’s string of seven consecutive games as the leading scorer off the bench.
On what it was like to come off the bench with an energy guy like Young, Boozer said it was really the entire second unit that came out with energy.
Honestly, our whole group was energetic last night. You look at it from our point guard down to our center, we all had great juice, got us back in the game, got the lead and the starters got back in there. It’s not just Swag, it was all of us. All of us had a lot of juice.”
The Lakers will head back to the practice floor Thursday morning before hopping on a plane in the afternoon to San Antonio. Everyone will be on Kobe Bryant watch, as Bryant is just 31 points away from passing Michael Jordan on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
[divide]Nick Young, ‘We Need The First Unit To Catch Up With Us!’