Jackson has a lot more in reserve

When Coach Phil Jackson looked down the Lakers’ bench last season, he wasn’t always thrilled with what stared back at him.

An aging Aaron McKie. An inexperienced Jordan Farmar. One-dimensional shooters in Brian Cook and Vladimir Radmanovic. Undersized guard Shammond Williams. Chris Mihm, in street clothes.

Times have changed a bit. Proof can be found with a glance at the box score from the Lakers’ thorough 109-80 thrashing of New Orleans on Wednesday.

The Lakers’ reserves outscored those of the Hornets, 42-9.

Not a misprint.

Trevor Ariza had 10 points, Farmar and Kwame Brown each had nine, Ronny Turiaf and Coby Karl each had five points, and Javaris Crittenton had four points.

Some of it came when the game was already decided, but enough of it happened during the first three quarters to be considered another important victory for the Lakers’ reserves.

“We try to be integral to every win,” Farmar said. “Every win we’ve gotten lately, we’ve done a good job as a unit.”

Along those lines, the Lakers are obviously no longer Kobe Bryant and everybody else.

Bryant had a quiet scoring night with 19 points against New Orleans, although he did have seven assists and seven rebounds.

Derek Fisher’s 26 points against Memphis were one more than Bryant scored that game. Bryant had 26 points against Indiana last Sunday, although Andrew Bynum (23 points) and Fisher (22 points) were right behind him.

Bryant is averaging 26.4 points, down from 31.6 last season and 35.4 in 2005-06. After winning back-to-back scoring titles, he is now third in the league, behind Cleveland’s LeBron James (29.1) and Denver’s Allen Iverson (27.1).

One stat that defines the Lakers’ season so far: They are 8-0 when all five starters score in double figures and 15-11 when it doesn’t happen.

“We have great individuals,” forward Luke Walton said. “But when we’re at our best is when everyone’s involved, everyone’s scoring and the bench comes in and gets even a bigger lead and pushes the ball down the other team’s bench’s throat.”

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Two months later, Walton was vindicated.

He was the guy charged with guarding Peja Stojakovic when the Hornets’ sharpshooter scored 36 points and made 10 three-pointers, a record for a Lakers opponent, in the Hornets’ 118-104 victory Nov. 6. In Wednesday’s rematch, Stojakovic was held to nine points on four-for-11 shooting with Walton defending him. He made one of four three-point attempts.

“It’s so hard when you play someone like that who’s such a dead-eye shooter because you’ve been taught since junior high about playing team defense and rotating and that type of stuff,” Walton said. “You’ve just got to discipline yourself to stay home even though your instincts are telling you to go in the lane and plug it up and help on pick-and-rolls.”

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Undrafted rookie Coby Karl now has a guaranteed contract for the rest of the season. He will make about $425,000.

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Bryant leads the Western Conference with 1.4 million votes in the final update before the league announces the All-Star starters on Jan. 24.

Overall, Bryant trails Boston forward Kevin Garnett (1.8 million), James (1.6 million) and Orlando center Dwight Howard (1.5 million).

The All-Star game is Feb. 17 in New Orleans.

TONIGHT

vs. Milwaukee, 7:30, FSN West

Site -- Staples Center.

Radio -- 570, 1330.

Records -- Lakers 23-11, Bucks 15-20.

Record vs. Bucks -- 0-1.

Update -- The Bucks have won three in a row, but they have played the last four games without All-Star guard Michael Redd, who has been out because of a bruised thigh and is questionable for tonight. Rookie Yi Jianlian is averaging 10.4 points and 6.1 rebounds. The Lakers made only six of 19 shots in the fourth quarter of a 110-103 loss Nov. 21 at Milwaukee.

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com