Kobe Bryant 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.

"I do want to get it down because he's played a ton of minutes too early right now," Lakers Coach Mike Brown said Tuesday.

Brown said the simple solution would be for the second unit to play better.

"I know it will put me at ease a little bit more and allow me to sit him a little bit more," Brown said. "I did talk to him about increasing his minutes right now in order to help us win a few games so that we were able to get a little push in the win-loss column."