After
sitting out three of the past four games to rest, Lakers star Kobe Bryant returned
Tuesday against the Miami Heat, scoring 12 points on 3-for-19 shooting in 31
minutes of a 78-75 loss.
"He was
pretty convincing as far as he is ready to go, body-wise and mind-wise and
everything," Lakers coach Byron Scott said before the game. "It
wasn't that hard of a decision."
Scott said he plans to limit the
36-year old Bryant to between 30-32 minutes the rest of the season, even if a
game goes into overtime.
Scott also
said he plans for Bryant to play Thursday at home against Cleveland and then to
sit out Friday in Utah against the Jazz, which is part of Scott's plan to sit
Bryant during back-to-back sets.
"He's
not 20," Scott said. "He can’t play 40 minutes a night like he used
to and can't play every single night. We have to get the best of him we can
when he can't play."
But Scott
stressed that there have been no discussions about shutting Bryant down for the
rest of the season, emphasizing instead that Bryant's status remains day to
day.
"The
biggest thing for me is to make sure he can play at a high level for the
remainder of this season and going into next season," Scott said.
Bryant has
one season remaining on his contract with the Lakers.
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