There was one obvious tendency when Kobe Bryant practiced Tuesday for the first time in almost two weeks.

He passed the ball. Over and over.


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He didn’t take an outside shot in the 20-minute portion of a full-court scrimmage open to reporters. “Get that on tape, will you?” Lakers Coach Mike D’Antoni said jokingly. “That won’t happen a lot.”


Then D’Antoni added, “He does that in practice sometimes. He can get a shot when he wants to.”

Bryant’s one basket during the open part of scrimmage was a left-handed dunk after a steal. He didn’t get too far over the rim, jumping off his right foot.


Maybe he wasn’t trying to push the Achilles’ tendon in his left foot, which he tore April 12. It was hard to tell. Bryant did not talk to reporters after practice and offered three words at a promotional appearance later for Turkish Airlines.

“I feel good,” he said.


Bryant is hoping to also practice Wednesday and Thursday. If he feels fine after that, he’ll be on target to make his season debut Friday at Sacramento.

“We’ll see [Wednesday] how he reacts and everything but [Tuesday] was a big step forward,” D’Antoni said. ""He played hard, played for about half hour, 45 minutes, did everything.... I didn’t see anything he couldn’t do.”


Bryant scrimmaged mostly with Pau Gasol, Jordan Hill, Wesley Johnson and Steve Blake, who said he felt OK despite being bothered recently by a hyper-extended right elbow.

Bryant’s passes were sometimes on the mark and sometimes not. He had a pass knocked out of bounds by Chris Kaman and sailed another one too wide for Johnson.


Bryant sent a nice no-look pass to Shawne Williams for a baseline jumper, found Hill cutting for a layup and also found Johnson for an open three-pointer.

The scrimmage ended after Bryant passed to Gasol, who touch-passed to Hill for an easy two. Bryant’s team won, 21-13.


“He looked really good, actually,” Gasol said. “You can tell he’s been working a lot on his own. He’s in a really good rhythm. He knows what he’s doing out there.”

Nash practicing…briefly


Steve Nash scrimmaged for only 10 minutes Tuesday and left the court before reporters were allowed to watch.

“I can’t say he looked as good as Kobe,” Gasol said. “But it was good to see him at practice.”


Nash hasn’t played since Nov. 10 because of nerve damage in his back. He spent last week rehabilitating in Vancouver with his personal trainer. Nash said it was “very unlikely” he would play in Friday’s game.

He hoped to steadily increase his scrimmage time to 15 minutes Wednesday and 20 minutes Thursday. This season, Nash is averaging only 6.7 points and 4.8 assists, managing to play just six games.


Nash said he wouldn’t risk further injury by returning too quickly, despite Blake’s elbow issue and Jordan Farmar’s torn hamstring, which will sideline him about four weeks.

“I don’t know if I can have that urgency,” Nash said. “If I race to come back ... and it’s not quite right, I could be out forever or for months.”


Xavier Henry probably will back up Blake at point guard after logging the entire fourth quarter at the position Sunday against Portland.

Farmar said he received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his left hamstring Monday.


Farmar is averaging 9.2 points and 4.4 assists in 18.9 minutes.

Times correspondent Eric Pincus contributed to this report.


mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan

