SAN ANTONIO -- He entered the Alamodome with a quiet calm, unusual for a player usually hyped to play. His casual outfit for the day: a backward baseball cap and a New York Yankees road jersey, the number "2" on the back.

	Bryant

Any significance, Kobe Bryant was asked, in wearing Derek Jeter's number? "Yes," he responded. "He's a clutch player."

Who knows? Maybe next time the Yankees find themselves in a pivotal postseason game, Jeter might seek some inspiration in a Lakers number "8" jersey.

With the Lakers' season on the line, and facing their first must-win game since losing the opener in last year's NBA Finals, it was Bryant's brilliance -- especially in the fourth quarter -- that helped the Lakers to a 99-89 win over the Spurs on Friday.

The Lakers now have a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.

It wasn't by design, but in a back-and-fourth game in which there were 15 lead chances and nine ties, Bryant was on the court the entire 48 minutes -- playing his final minutes just as hard as his first.

Bryant scored 31 points, going a perfect 5-for-5 from the field in the fourth quarter, when he scored 11. There used to be a time that 31 shot attempts by Bryant would cause eyes to roll on the Lakers' bench; Friday night, it seemed every shot he took was necessary in what resulted in a nearly flawless game. Bryant also had six rebounds, six assists and just one turnover.

"It was a business approach to the game for him," Lakers' coach Phil Jackson said. "I was impressed he was able to back off and wait until the opportunity was open. He didn't force the action."

Unlike a year ago, when he danced through the Spurs' defense virtually untouched, Bryant had to work hard for his shots in Game 3. When he got the ball on the perimeter, Bruce Bowen was there slapping and shoving. And on those occasions when he was able to get by Bowen, Bryant had to hang in the air and contort his body to get shots off over David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Malik Rose.

"I don't think any of the shots he got were easy," said teammate Robert Horry. "They were all nines on a scale of one to 10. Playing like that -- being aggressive -- makes it easier on all of us."

Yes, executing the way Bryant did helps take the heat off of Shaquille O'Neal, who went into the game with a list if aches and added yet another pain when he sprained his ankle in the first half. Despite being consistently hacked -- on one occasion after finishing a break with a dunk he was shoved into a courtside cameraman by Rose, who was called for a flagrant foul -- Shaq finished with 22 points and 15 boards.

Bryant's play also took the heat off guys like Derek Fisher (13 points), Samaki Walker (12 points) and Rick Fox (10 points), who got open looks because Bryant attracted so much attention.

Thus the difference between the Lakers and the Spurs: Bryant and O'Neal have role players who make open looks, while the Spurs' Tim Duncan doesn't.

Time after time Duncan, who was double- and tripled-teamed, swung the ball to teammates on the perimeter. Too bad the shooters couldn't shoot: Steve Smith hit just two of eight shots, and was 1-for-3 shooting from 3-point range. After hitting 47.2 percent of his 3-point shots during the regular season, Smith is hitting just 25 percent during the playoffs. In Game 3, Terry Porter, Danny Ferry and Antonio Daniels were a combined 2-for-7 shooting from the field.

"It's real tough, it puts a lot of pressure on me," Duncan said of his team's lack of success from the perimeter. "When I shoot like I did (9-for-26 for 28 points), it really puts us in a hole."

The Spurs weren't expecting to be in a hole. They planned to ride the emotion of the public presentation of the league MVP award to Duncan, as well as the return of David Robinson, to a victory. They expected to tighten the clamps on the two-time defending NBA champions, and they expected a big boost from their 35,520 fans.

But Kobe Bryant had expectations as well.

Immediately after Tuesday's loss in L.A., Bryant said he couldn't wait until Friday's game, almost relishing the fact that his team was in a jam.

"We heard a lot of reports that we were going to lose (Game 3)," Bryant said. "I love the fact we can come in here and silence 35,000 fans. Now we move on from this game. We came up here and took care of business."

The Spurs can only hope that Bryant didn't -- like last year -- take care of their season.

Jerry Bembry is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine.