And Lamar Odom pitched in as well.

After falling behind by 17 points in the first quarter and drawing boos from the home crowd, the Lakers battled back and beat the Suns 95-89 Thursday night to cut Phoenix's lead to 2-1 in the first-round playoff series.

Bryant scored 15 of his 45 points in the fourth quarter, and had six rebounds and six assists. Brown added a career playoff-high 19 points and Odom had 18 points and 16 rebounds. Brown scored a total of 11 points in the first two games.

Amare Stoudemire led the Suns with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Leandro Barbosa scored 20 points, Steve Nash had 10 points and 13 assists and Shawn Marion also scored 10 points for Phoenix.

The Lakers won the game at the foul line, shooting 22-of-28 to Phoenix's 8-of-12. Los Angeles outrebounded the Suns 44-35.

Game 4 will be played Sunday at Staples Center, with the fifth game Wednesday night in Phoenix, where the Suns embarrassed the Lakers 126-98 in Game 2. Bryant scored only 15 points in that game after getting 39 in the opener, although he shot 1-of-10 in the final period of a 95-77 loss.

He was much better in the fourth quarter of this game, shooting 5-of-11 to finish 15-of-26, and added four foul shots in as many attempts.

The odds remain against the Lakers, since only 11 of 193 teams in NBA history have come back from an 0-2 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. But an NBA team has never won a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games, so this was a victory they had to have.

A 3-pointer by Bryant and a basket by Odom gave the Lakers an 83-75 lead with 9:55 to play. The Suns drew within three points before failing to score on three straight possessions. Bryant then drove for a layup with 3:29 to play, making it 89-84.

Two free throws by Stoudemire and a 3-pointer by Barbosa tied the game at 89 with 2:03 left, but the Suns wouldn't score again.

Odom's basket with 1:45 remaining put the Lakers ahead for good, and Bryant added a tough turnaround jumper from the left baseline with 57 seconds to go. He made a pair of foul shots with 20 seconds left to clinch the victory.

The Lakers outscored the Suns 10-4 to start the third quarter for a 58-55 lead - their first of the game. Brown scored nine points and Bryant added seven during a 16-10 spurt to finish the period, putting Los Angeles on top 74-70.

After falling behind 31-14, the Lakers outscored Phoenix 26-11 to draw within two late in second quarter. Bryant scored 13 during the spurt. The Suns led 51-48 at halftime.

The Suns made their first five shots - all jumpers - for a quick 11-0 lead, prompting a timeout from the Lakers and boos from the Staples Center crowd of 18,997.

Stoudemire picked up two fouls in the first 4 1/2 minutes, but the Suns kept hitting from outside, and led 31-17 lead entering the second quarter.