NEW YORK - An 81-point game. An average of 43.4 points per game. Seven 40-point outings.

Kobe Bryant’s month was filled with eye-popping numbers. But if asked to pick which number meant the most to him, he might choose 9-6.

That was the Los Angeles Lakers’ record in January, though it was overshadowed by Bryant’s individual brilliance. A young team that struggled earlier in the season is now squarely in the playoff picture in the tough Western Conference.

“It was a good month,” Bryant said. “We were able to win more ballgames than we lost. We built ourselves a pretty good cushion going into the following one. Hopefully next month will be just as productive for us.”

It probably won’t be for Bryant, at least statistically.

Bryant was so good in January that when he scored 40 points in a 130-97 rout of the New York Knicks on Tuesday night, his average for the month decreased. And he was so good that all that 40-point effort got him was an accusation of “slacking tonight” from a ballboy.

The NBA’s leading scorer averaged 43.4 points in 13 games, highlighted by his 81-point outing that was the second-best scoring game in NBA history. He joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in NBA history to average 40 or more points in a month more than once.

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Chamberlain, whose 100-point game is the only one better than Bryant’s career-best outing, did it 11 times, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Bryant also averaged 40.6 points in February 2003.

“It’s easy,” teammate Smush Parker joked. “No, Kobe Bryant is a great player. It’s incredible. It’s fun to play with him, it’s fun to play in the backcourt with him.”

The Lakers were struggling at the start of the new year. They lost their first two games while Bryant was suspended for committing a flagrant foul on Memphis reserve Mike Miller, giving them a five-game losing streak.

He returned with 48, 50, 45 and 41 points in his next four games, with the Lakers winning three of them. He added a 51-point game later in the month before the 81-point game in a victory over Toronto on Jan. 22.

Besides putting Bryant in the company of Chamberlain, that game also made expectations on Bryant sometimes unreachable. While 40 points is an outstanding game in the NBA, fans sometimes look at it as only half as good as they believe Bryant can do.

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“I went shopping today and everybody was saying, ‘Hey, you going to score 90 tonight? You going to score 100 tonight?”’ Bryant said. “I said, ‘You know how crazy that sounds?”’

Bryant increased his average to 36.0 points as he tries to win his first NBA scoring title. Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers is second with 33.6 per game.

Bryant went 7-of-17 from the field and 23-of-26 from the free-throw line Tuesday. His 14th 40-point game of the season gave him sole possession of fifth place in franchise history. Only Baylor, who had 23, 21 and 16, and Bryant’s total of 19 in the 2002-03 season is ahead of him.

Though considered one of the game’s greatest players, Bryant’s reputation took a hit not long after that season. He was forced to stand trial for sexual assault trial in Colorado, then was considered by many to be the driving force behind the trade of Shaquille O’Neal after the 2004 season that broke up a team that won three titles.

But Bryant’s play in January has gone a long way toward repairing his reputation — not to mention bringing fans back to the game to watch him play.

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“It’s very exciting,” Bryant said Monday. “I heard them say Kobe is must-see TV. I think it’s cool, it generates a buzz around the game.”

Never was that more evident than at the end of Tuesday’s game, when chants of “MVP!” “MVP” rained down from the Madison Square Garden crowd as the game was ending.

“It feels good,” said Bryant, who on Monday called Madison Square Garden his favorite place to play. “It lets me know they appreciate what I do out there on the floor.”

It’s hard not to appreciate Bryant after what he did in January.