One of the major concerns so far early in the season for the Los Angeles Lakers has been the minutes of Kobe Bryant. Coming into the game against the Grizzlies, Kobe was averaging nearly 36 minutes per game, and he played 35 against the Grizzlies.
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While the minutes were similar, Scott took Bryant out near the end of the first and third quarters, something he hadn’t previously done. Scott said that he will continue to ‘tinker’ with Kobe’s minutes according to Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters:
Byron Scott on Kobe's minutes tonight: "That's just a work in progress & something we're just going to continue to tinker with."
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) November 27, 2014
Throughout the off-season, Scott continually said that Kobe would play between 30-40 minutes and would never get more specific than that. Many fans were hopeful that Bryant would play closer to 30 minutes a night, but that has not been the case so far.
With Bryant admitting that his legs were tired down the stretch of Sunday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets, it is good to see that Scott is at least changing around some things in an attempt to keep Kobe fresh down the stretch when the Lakers need him most.
Whether Scott will choose different times to give Kobe a break or make more of a concerted effort to get Kobe’s minutes even lower remains to be seen. But Scott and Kobe seem to be on the same page as far as making sure Kobe is fresh in the fourth quarter.
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