Grant, George Rejoin Practice

Laker practice was more crowded Sunday than it had been since training camp, with forwards Brian Grant and Devean George returning from injuries and attempting to sort out their place in the pecking order.

Grant, out since Nov. 23 because of lingering soreness in his knees, is closer to coming off the injured list than George, who practiced for the first time since undergoing ankle surgery in July.

Grant, who averaged 4.5 points and 3.3 rebounds in nine games, said his right knee is feeling fewer effects of tendinitis than when he went on the injured list. He said his return before Saturday’s game against his former team, the Miami Heat, was “a very good possibility.”

“In my mind’s eye, I’m saying, ‘I’m not there, I don’t have the timing,’ but I had a couple teammates say, ‘You don’t feel like you’re there, but you brought a presence [Sunday],’ ” Grant said. “There’s going to be a little soreness just because that’s structurally how it is, but I feel 10 times better than I did when I went on [the injured list]. I feel refreshed.”

George was supposed to miss about four months, but his rehabilitation took longer than expected because muscles in his left leg atrophied while his ankle was immobilized. George is at least two weeks from playing his first game.

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Kobe Bryant, who leads the league in scoring with 27.7 points per game and is tied for the lead in turnovers with 4.52 per game, said the plantar fasciitis in his left foot has become more manageable in recent weeks.

Bryant was initially diagnosed with painful swelling on the underside of his foot when the Lakers last played Memphis, on Nov. 10.

“It’s a lot, lot better,” Bryant said. “I haven’t had to do as much treatment. I can come out here and practice and my foot is just loosened up. Maybe this is as good as it gets. If it is, I’m fine with that.”

Bryant estimated he had about 85% of his normal strength in the foot. “At the start of the game it’s usually really stiff but then toward the second quarter it really loosens up a lot,” he said. “In the second half, sometimes I don’t even feel it.”

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The Lakers have leaned heavily on three-point shots, which is fine with Coach Rudy Tomjanovich -- to a degree.

“This is the only criteria I have: We want to shoot our outside shots off penetration,” he said. “If you’re attacking and they’re going to sag in there and you’re wide open and we can make 14 out of 30, that’s a great weapon.”

The Lakers are attempting 21.3 three-point shots a game, third in the league, and making 36.4%, fifth in the league.

TONIGHT

vs. Memphis, 7:30, FSNW

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- KLAC (570); KWKW (1330).

Records -- Lakers 13-10; Grizzlies 11-15.

Record vs. Grizzlies -- 0-1.

Update -- The Grizzlies have fallen short this season after making the playoffs for the first time since the franchise began play in 1995. Forward Pau Gasol, averaging 18.9 points before Sunday, is the only Memphis player among the league’s top 50 scorers. The Lakers lost last month to Memphis, 110-87, their second-worst loss this season as far as scoring margin. The Lakers are 18-0 at home against the Grizzlies.