Lakers’ Kobe Bryant skips practice again but says he’s ready to play

Kobe Bryant did not practice for a second straight day today, but declared his injured back was “a lot better than it was [Monday], though.”

The Lakers star, who suffered through back spasms in Sunday’s Game 4 playoff loss to the Utah Jazz, maintained he would be ready to play in Game 5 on Wednesday and even said he would have played had there been a game today.

Standing while addressing reporters, Bryant often fidgeted because of his tweaked back. “Hopefully, it’ll be good enough to run around a little bit,” he said. “It’ll be fine.”

Bryant said, ideally, he would come in Wednesday morning to take some shots during shoot-around.

“I think the key is to know what you can and can’t do,” he said. “The last game was kind of an indicator for me, so if it is that bad – I don’t think it’ll be that bad again – but if it is, I kind of know what I can and can’t do already.”

He was also asked if the injury had occurred last week, would he have been able to lift the MVP trophy skyward. “I’d just leave it at the table and look at it,” Bryant said.

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Utah won two games in Salt Lake City to even the series, in large part because of strong play by point guard Deron Williams. In those two wins Williams averaged 23.5 points and 13 assists.

“He’s one of my favorite players in the league,” Bryant said. “I love his toughness. I love his competitiveness. I love his skill. I don’t throw accolades around too frequently and I really, really love him as a basketball player.”

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Lakers forward Trevor Ariza was medically cleared to practice and did so for the first time since sustaining a broken bone in his right foot on Jan. 20.

Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said it would probably be a week or two before Ariza was ready to play in a game.

jonathan.abrams@latimes.com