Metta World Peace finally delivers some offense for Lakers

This is what the Lakers need out of Metta World Peace, nothing worthy of a player-of-the-week award but nothing colossally bad either.

World Peace had 11 points, made his only three-point attempt, created turnovers and hit five of nine shots Sunday in an otherwise dour 98-96 loss for the Lakers against the Indiana Pacers.

World Peace, a bright spot?

“I’m coming back to life, finally,” he said.

Well, sort of.

It was his first dive into double-digit scoring since getting 10 points Jan. 1 against Denver. Since then, he had scored 4, 0, 2, 2, 5, 2, 2, 2, 7 and 0 points, numbers that made Lakers fans yearn for the career-low 8.5 points he averaged last season.

He was incrementally better Sunday.

He created a turnover by stripping Paul George on the baseline. He picked up a pair of assists. Some of his misses even seemed to go the Lakers’ way — a long jumper caromed off the rim and right to Andrew Bynum early in the fourth quarter.

“It was good to see him step up and score some buckets inside and hit a couple jumpers,” Lakers Coach Mike Brown said. “It was good to see him come off the ‘schneid’ a little bit.”

Shaw’s thaw

Call it the Shaw-Brown Redemption.

Brian Shaw hoped he would succeed Phil Jackson last year as the Lakers’ head coach, but the job went to Brown. Soon after, Shaw became the Indiana Pacers’ associate head coach under Frank Vogel.

Shaw, an assistant coach with the Lakers for seven seasons, was upset they didn’t directly communicate with him about the Brown hire.

It didn’t stop him from reaching out to Brown at a coaching clinic during the NBA lockout.

“I just felt there was some tension in the air,” Shaw said before the game. “I went over to [Brown] and said, ‘We’re good. I don’t have any issues with you. Congratulations. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the more qualified candidate for the job.’”

Brown called Shaw “a peer of mine” but had a different recollection of their conversation.

“I don’t think we talked about him getting the job or me getting the job at all,” Brown said. “It was just, ‘Hey, how are you doing? How’s the family doing? Wish you luck, wish you luck.’ That type of thing.”

Shaw stays in touch with Jackson, but the conversation always centers on his current position at Indiana.

Shaw experienced one change, though, when he entered Staples Center on Sunday.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever been in the other locker room,” he said.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

twitter.com/Mike_Bresnahan

Bresnahan is a Times staff writer. Medina is a Times correspondent.