Kobe Bryant, left, protects the ball against the Knicks’ Jose Calderon during the Lakers’ 99-95 loss on Sunday. KATHY WILLENS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI — Less than 24 hours await before Kobe Bryant will encounter his first back-to-back game situation, a significant variable that could determine if the Lakers’ 37-year-old star can stay durable amid three season-ending injuries.
Yet, Lakers coach Byron Scott said he had not revisited with Bryant his recent hesitation on attempting to play his star player in all 82-regular-season games. Bryant did not attend morning shootaround on Tuesday for rest purposes. So, Scott said he “probably” will talk with Bryant before the Lakers (1-5) play the Miami Heat (4-3) tonight at American Airlines Arena. Yet, Scott suggested that Bryant will play both tonight and in Orlando on Wednesday.
“We’re at this stage that is undetermined. It might be something where we say, You know what [Kobe], let’s play these two games and see how you feel. Then let’s go from there,” Scott said. “It might be a situation where it’s front end or back end on back to backs. But a lot of it will be determined on how he feels.”
Scott reiterated that Bryant has “always been truthful to me” about how he feels despite his well-documented competitiveness and hope to play through the entire 2015-16 season.
“He’ll tell me if he feels like crap or some days he will tell me I feel great,” Scott said. “He doesn’t hold anything back when it comes to that. That’s one thijng about our relationship I never had to work about on if he’s being honest with me. I rely on that because I know once he tells me how he feels, it’s the honest to goodness truth.”
That explains why Scott sounded strongly supportive about Bryant reiterating his interest in playing in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Assuming Bryant makes the team, that would mark the third time he played for the U.S. men’s Olympic team after winning gold medals in Bejing (2008) and in London (2012).
“I don’t know if that’s an indication on what he plans on doing for next year. But that’s cool to me,” Scott said. “I can’t think about 2016 and the Olympics. I have to think about tonight.”
Although he said he is not “necessarily set” on Bryant’s workload, Scott said he likely will play Bryant in Miami and in Orlando with the same workload as he has handled through six games. Bryant has averaged 16 points on a career-low 32 percent shooting in 29.2 minutes per game, a drop from the 34.5 minutes Bryant averaged last season through 35 games. Although Scott has not outlined Bryant’s minute limitation, he has played thus far between 22 and 32 minutes per contest.
At Bryant’s suggestion, Scott has also adjusted his workload in the past two games by featuring Bryant in the second quarter to prevent him from feeling stiff after sitting out late in the first period.
“I would bring him out in the last four or five minutes of the first quarter and bring him back seven minutes left in second quarter. That could be 20-30 minutes sitting there,” Scott said. Kobe asked, ‘Can we figure out a way where I come in and out. I came up with some numbers. That would be perfect and that gave him same amount of minutes.'”
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