Kobe Bryant/Photo by Associated Press

Kobe Bryant has played both ends of four back-to-backs this season. The first time he had a worse second game. But the opposite has been the case the past three times.

• Bryant scored 20 points on 7 of 26 from the field in a Dec. 1 loss at Philadelphia in 32 minutes. The next night he scored 31 points on 10 of 24 shooting in win at Washington in 36 minutes.
• He had five points and shot 2 of 15 in a Dec. 6 loss in 26 minutes at Detroit. He came back the next night and scored 21 points on 8 of 16 shooting in a loss at Toronto. He also had eight rebounds, four assists and two steals in 32 minutes.
• Bryant scored 12 points on on 5 of 12 shooting with six rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes in a loss at San Antonio on Friday. He scored 25 points on 9 of 16 from the field, pulled down seven rebounds, doled out six assists and made three steals in 31 minutes in a loss Saturday at Houston.

Coach Byron Scott was asked how Bryan, who is 37 and in his 20th season, could continually be better in the second half of a back-to-back.

“I don’t know how he does it,” Scott said Monday after practice. “I know somebody asked him about it and he doesn’t know how he’s doing it. But I always kind of just chalk it up to, that’s Kobe. He comes ready to play every night and I think the second night, though, he seems to have a better rhythm. He has a couple of days off or something like that and then you had that one game on Wednesday and play again Thursday, he gets into a little bit more of a rhythm and a flow. For whatever reason, the second night seems to be better, where you would think it would be the opposite.”