Lakers coach Byron Scott: Limiting Kobe Bryant's playing time is working

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott said that the recent minutes restriction he has placed on guard Kobe Bryant is working.

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott said that the recent minutes restriction he has placed on guard Kobe Bryant is working.

Bryant missed three games last week to rest his body. He returned to play 32 minutes in Sunday's loss to the Phoenix Suns and Tuesday's win over the Denver Nuggets. He scored 23 points, and added 11 rebounds and 11 assists against the Nuggets for his 21st career triple-double.

“So far, the experiment is working," Scott said to ESPN.com. "We're just going to keep at it and see how it turns out. The experiment is working extremely well. The days off and 32 minutes or lower in games has been working well, and we're going to stick with that right now."

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Bryant had averaged 35.4 minutes played per game before his three-game rest and has not practiced the past two days, but will go through shootaround on Friday. Scott expects him to start against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Scott says he doesn’t want the limited playing time to affect how Bryant approaches the game, saying he still expects him to shoot and be aggressive on the offensive end.

Bryant is averaging 24.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists this season for the Lakers (10-22), who have the second-worst record in the Western Conference.

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