Bryant's production is down across the board, but the Lakers are off to a 12-1 start, beating teams by a league-high average of 14.3 points a game.

The Lakers continue to win with ease, even when Bryant has poor shooting nights.

He was five for 17 against New Jersey on Tuesday, but the Lakers won by 27 points. He was eight for 23 against Phoenix, but the Lakers won by 13. He was five for 15 at New Orleans, and the Lakers won by "only" seven. He went eight for 21 against the Clippers, and the Lakers won by 18.

Coach Phil Jackson indicated Bryant would continue to be the obvious focal point of the Lakers' offense, but it was an important development to win when Bryant wasn't hitting.

"We have to have the confidence," Jackson said. "And he has to have the understanding that, 'Hey, if it's not my night, I'll just help other guys go.' "

Bryant strung together strong-enough numbers last season to warrant his first MVP award: 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists a game.

This season, he's averaging 23.7 points, 5 rebounds and 3.9 assists. He's on pace to finish with his lowest scoring average since 1999-2000, and he's shooting 45.2%, down from 45.9% last season.

Bryant shot well when attempting "creative stuff," Jackson said, but he was missing open outside shots. It's not fatigue or injury, either. His playing time has decreased from 38.9 minutes a game last season to 33.3 this season.

"He says he feels the best he's ever felt at this time in the season. That's a nice thing to hear him say," Jackson said. "I'm still a little concerned that he's not shooting the ball with the kind of accuracy that he has in the past. He got it going, I thought, a little bit last week, but . . . it didn't click for him [Tuesday]. We want to really get him going and hopefully get it back on stride before this trip we take next week."

The Lakers are deep enough to survive without his scoring punch on a game-to-game basis. Pau Gasol, for example, had 26 points against New Jersey, and the Lakers' reserves outscored the Nets' backups, 56-19.

"We're a deep team," forward Lamar Odom said. "I think he knows that. Kobe is a tough competitor. He's going to compete. We all know that he's going to try and score. If he's off, of course we're going to pick up the slack."

Even the Nets noticed the Lakers' ability to win on a subpar night by Bryant.

"I think that's the greatness of the Lakers," Coach Lawrence Frank said. "Kobe is obviously one of the elite players in this league, but they have so much around him. Their front line . . . they are able to get deep post-ups and put a lot of pressure on us. That second unit, their second-effort plays really took the game out of reach for us."

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com