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Kobe Bryant has averaged 42 points over seven games, a Michael Jordan riff that has blown life into the Laker four-peat effort and for the moment soothed the hysterical locals.

It doesn’t have to be about Jordan, of course. It could be simply about Bryant, on a hardwood floor in a parallel universe, 16 years younger, and so a generation of critics at his throat.

But there is the gait. The way he looks slyly over his shoulder on the dribble. How he wrecks rims, Nikes aloft and afloat behind him. By now he’s used to this insistence on holding him up against something that came before.

“It’s not good, it’s not bad,” he said Thursday afternoon, another Laker practice at his back. “It just is what it is. I have my own standards, and my path has been different than Michael’s path. The similarities lie in the fact we’re both 6-6 and we’re both competitive.”

Since 1965, four players have scored at least 35 points in seven consecutive games. They are Jordan (twice), Rick Barry, Oscar Robertson and Bryant.

“An honor,” Bryant called it.

The San Antonio Spurs arrive for a game tonight that is more complicated than the New York-Denver-Denver ride, the NBA schedulers kind enough to extend the Lakers’ All-Star break a few days on each side.

This won’t be Vincent Yarbrough out there opposite Bryant, Yarbrough being so impressed with Bryant after being torched for most of 93 points in two games against the Nuggets he admitted he would try to “emulate” Bryant’s game from now on.

These are glorious days for Bryant, who not only is gaining MVP momentum while his play drives the Lakers back into playoff contention but by all appearances is doing it with the approval of his teammates and coaching staff. While some of Phil Jackson’s closest friends might not approve, Bryant has taken his game directly at a league not equipped to defend his skills and creativity and tenacity. He is too swift for the small forwards and too large for the guards and, when he arrives, unafraid of anything at the rim.

“I have a clear focus,” he said. “Phil gave me simple instructions. He wants me to put the ball in the hole.”

The numbers -- in seven games he’s shooting better than 50% and is averaging more than 14 free-throw attempts -- give his recent game body but not soul. The latter would be found in the summer, months spent in a gym, in a weight room, in a boxing ring. And so, out on the wing, the Vincent Yarbroughs flexed but not convinced, Bryant feels he is better and knows he deserves this. If he’s wrong, it hasn’t crossed his mind.

“I’m having a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s really enjoyable, especially how we’re feeding off me as a team. Everybody’s kind of using my energy and we’re using it to play well. That makes the game fun.”

It is a new Laker order when he takes 27 shots a game over two weeks, as he has, skipping a few fourth quarters along the way, and teammates are urging him on. Given an open fastbreak layup Wednesday night, Rick Fox flipped the ball back over his shoulder for Bryant, who didn’t convert because he was fouled by the man trailing Fox.

“It’s exciting to watch, to be a part of,” Fox said. “When he gets a feel like that, he may be taking questionable shots, but he knows when he’s hot. You’ve got to let a player of his caliber do what he’s doing.

“You can’t begrudge the streak he’s on. I’d rather him take shots to stay in the aggressive mode he’s been in. I don’t think anybody would begrudge the run he’s been on. You’ve got to ride it. You just ride it as an individual. As a team, you trust he’ll recognize it when it comes to an end. Hopefully, it doesn’t.”

As for why now, Bryant said, “I wish I knew,” and for when it might end, he said, “I don’t know. I have no idea. I’m just going game in and game out.”

The Spurs are more athletic on the perimeter and have greater muscle inside -- Tim Duncan, not Nene Hilario -- than anything Bryant has seen in the last week. But the competition changes, the uniforms change, and the shots just fall, and then they want to know if he can be Jordan.

“The point totals are what’s fair,” Jackson said. “The type of games are entirely different. Kobe’s competitiveness, his size, his spectacular finishes at the basket do approximate some of the things Michael did in the past. The fact that he’s doing it a different way at a different position on the floor are somewhat different. I do think, ‘What is there to compare to right now?’ When I go back and think about what people were comparing Michael to, when he was doing these kinds of things, I can’t remember. There wasn’t anybody. So, he’s a standard. From that standpoint, there’s a pride that Kobe can be compared to him, but I don’t think it’s fair to either player.

“The other thing is the spectacular nature of their games. Tracy McGrady does some outrageous, spectacular things too. But he’s even a different type of player than these two; he’s 6-9, playing the wing or top-of-the-floor position. I don’t think there is anyone I can compare to [Bryant]. Jerry West was an entirely different player. As was Oscar Robertson. It was an entirely different game, a different time.”

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Big-Time Scorers

*--* Shaquille O’Neal, Lakers 26.0 0 Top five scorers in the NBA this season and how many times each has scored 40 or more points: Player, Team Avg 40-pt. Gms Tracy McGrady, Orlando 30.5 5 Kobe Bryant, Lakers 29.3 11 Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 27.0 1 Paul Pierce, Boston 26.4 4

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