Bryant doing more while scoring less

It has been exactly a year since Kobe Bryant opened up a box of NBA lore.

Eighty-one points. One game.

Jerry Buss said it was like watching a miracle. Phil Jackson called it “something to behold.” Even Bryant acknowledged that an apparent under-the-radar Sunday night game against the Toronto Raptors had “turned into something special.”

It was the second-highest scoring total in an NBA game, behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 in a sparsely attended game at Hershey, Pa., in March 1962.

A year has passed and, some would say, a team and its leader have evolved. Bryant, who led the NBA with a 35.4 scoring average last season, is at 27.9 points a game halfway through this one, but the Lakers are four games ahead of last season’s pace with a 26-15 record, fifth-best in the league.

Bryant has stayed closer to the ground this season. He had 58 points in a loss to Charlotte and 52 in a victory over Utah, but otherwise has passed more often and shot more judiciously. His assists have increased from 4.5 a game last season to 5.6, and his shooting percentage is up from 45% to 47%.

The changes aren’t subtle enough to go unnoticed, in or out of Los Angeles.

“The thing that’s crazy right now is he’s probably playing better than he’s ever played and nobody’s talking about him as the MVP,” New Orleans Coach Byron Scott told reporters Saturday. “I know Steve Nash is having another unbelievable season and, rightfully so, should probably be the leading candidate again. Dirk Nowitzki should probably be up there.

“But there’s no doubt in my mind Kobe Bryant should be mentioned in that category, too. Right now, he’s doing a lot of what Steve Nash does. His communication, his leadership, the way he’s giving that ball up, being unselfish. Then when he has to, like Steve Nash, he can score.”

Some may call Scott’s opinion slightly tinged with bias -- he is, after all, a former Laker. But his comments still carry force as an NBA coach.

“He’s doing all these things and everybody has chastised him all these years about him being selfish,” Scott said. “Now that he’s playing the right way, playing like everybody thought he should be playing earlier in his career when he was young ... nobody’s talking about him.”

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Jackson might as well have started to whistle happily after talking about the impending return of Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown.

At the very least, they will help shore up a wounded Lakers defense.

“Yes, without a doubt,” Jackson said. They are “experienced defensive players and they’ve got credibility and they’re very good rebounders. So that will help us.”

Odom and Brown will not play tonight against Golden State, but the Lakers then have three days before their next game.

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TONIGHT

vs. Golden State, 7:30, FSN West

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- 570, 1330.

Records -- Lakers 26-15, Warriors 19-22.

Record vs. Warriors -- 1-0.

Update -- Stephen Jackson scored 29 points Saturday and the Warriors barely lost to Cleveland in overtime, 106-104, in the first game with their new lineup. In an eight-player trade with Indiana, the Warriors acquired Jackson, Al Harrington, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Josh Powell in exchange for Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy, Ike Diogu and Keith McLeod.

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com