"Kobe Bryant's wrist pain is obviously tolerable. So is his historically troublesome knee.

What's creeping up now on him is playing time. There's been a lot of it. Forty-three minutes at Utah. Forty-one at home against Cleveland. Forty-four against the Clippers.

He finally took a break with 38 minutes against Dallas on Monday. Only, that's not really a break.

He is playing 37.7 minutes a game this season, way up from 33.9 minutes last season and more than his career average of 36.4."