It’s one of the toughest regular back-to-backs in the NBA — a game at Staples Center one night followed by a more than two-hour late night flight to Portland to take on a good Trail Blazers team on the back end.
The Lakers are doing that, hosting the Pacers Sunday night and playing in Portland Monday.
But Kobe isn’t.
Byron says Kobe will sit tomorrow vs Portland bc it's back to back
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) January 5, 2015
Byron says Kobe won't travel to Portland either to conserve
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) January 5, 2015
Good choice here, the Lakers at home have a real chance to beat the Pacers (who have played better of late), but with or without Kobe they are not likely to beat Portland on the second night of a back-to-back.
Also good that Kobe and Scott have really started to embrace some rest for Kobe. When he’s fresh, when he’s trusting his teammates as he has since his three games off, he elevates the Lakers offense to the level that they can win some games (just because the offense is good enough to outscore teams, the Lakers still are terrible on defense).