Bryant likes to share the burden

Kobe Bryant would rather not score scads of points as the Lakers push onward without Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown.

“I’m a little tired,” Bryant said.

“Hopefully, we won’t need to do that. I really don’t want to. I think that we can play cohesively, play well together, have everybody stepping up and contributing, where I don’t have to do that. That would be great.”

For real?

“It’s more enjoyable for me,” he said. “It’s more enjoyable for us. That being said, some nights you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to try the win a game, but I feel much better and will be happier if I don’t have to do that.”

As the Lakers prepare for the hostility of Sacramento Kings fans at Arco Arena -- one of the lasting images of a loss there last season was a girl no older than 6 holding up a “Smash Smush” sign -- it will be interesting to track how well they score without Odom and Brown, who average a combined 26.2 points a game.

Bryant might have to become more active on offense after all.

“Only when I have to,” he said. “Some games, you make sure we don’t get off to a slow start, so I’m more aggressive.”

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The rivalry has diminished considerably since the days when Rick Fox and Doug Christie threw punches at each other ... in an exhibition game.

But the Lakers and Kings still draw something out of one another, particularly when the games are at Sacramento.

“No matter how both teams are doing, it’s always special to go up there because of all the memories that we’ve had,” Bryant said.

Shaquille O’Neal once called the Kings the “Queens,” Robert Horry once stabbed their championship dreams with a three-point dagger, and Bryant was once the victim of food poisoning from room service, leading to all sorts of conspiracy theories.

“Ever since that day, I import cheesecake,” he said of his recent eating habits in the state capital.

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Brown is officially listed as being out indefinitely, but Coach Phil Jackson tipped off what the franchise was thinking.

“We’re kind of talking about a four-week period of time, in our mind’s eye,” he said.

That would be 12 games. In the meantime, the Lakers will see how they fare with Andrew Bynum, Ronny Turiaf and Brian Cook at center before making any moves.

“You’d like to have another big man, there’s no doubt about it,” Jackson said.

“But we think that we can see our way through for a short period of time and patch it up. I know that Brian Cook was anxious to play some more minutes and if he can get some more minutes at the center spot, that’s fine.”

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Odom was jogging lightly and shooting free throws at the team’s training facility in El Segundo, although he declined to peek too far into the future.

“I have to take my time because I don’t want this to linger on,” he said. “I want to come back at 100%. They’ll be all right. They’ve still got the best player in the NBA out there. We’re playing good team basketball right now.”

Odom has been sidelined since Dec. 12 because of a strained ligament in his right knee. The Lakers said at the time he would be out at least four weeks.

TONIGHT

at Sacramento, 7:30, Ch. 9, TNT

Site -- Arco Arena.

Radio -- 570, 1330.

Records -- Lakers 20-11, Kings 14-15.

Record vs. Kings (2005-06) -- 2-2.

Update -- Ron Artest might be on the move from Sacramento, and, until then, continues to play erratically. Three days after going scoreless against Golden State, he had a career-best 39 points in a 112-100 victory Tuesday against New York.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com