BRYANT'S 53 TOWERS OVER MING LAKERS COME BACK TO WIN IN DOUBLE OVERTIME LAKERS 112, HOUSTON 101.

Byline: ROSS SILER Staff Writer

The Lakers won in Houston on Tuesday night by building a 27-point lead in the fourth quarter, then surviving as the Rockets stormed back behind their bench players. They escaped with a victory in large part because Houston missed four free throws late.

Three nights later, the Lakers tried the opposite approach at Staples Center, spotting the Rockets a 21-point lead in the second quarter.They struggled to find any answer for Yao Ming, who blocked seemingly every shot in his vicinity.

But two overtimes later, the Lakers pulled out a 112-101 victory, thanks to Kobe Bryant's 53 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

It was a game of two NBA titans. Bryant had 46 points on 14-of-35 shooting heading into the second overtime. Yao finished with 35 points, 15 rebounds and a career-high eight blocks, reminding everyone why he once was part of the Lakers' rebuilding plan.

The game went into a second overtime tied at 99-99 as Bryant missed a turnaround jumper over Shane Battier.

Bryant attacked the lane late in the first overtime and hit a shot fading away from Yao's massive frame. Yao came back and answered with a shot to tie the score at 99-99 with 38.2 seconds left.

Smush Parker missed a 3-pointer for the Lakers with 19.7 seconds left and the Rockets went for the win by getting the ball to Yao on one of his sweet spots. But Yao couldn't connect from the right side and the Lakers rebounded the miss with 2.0 seconds left.

The Lakers came back from 13 points down in the fourth quarter, seven points down with 31 minutes left, even as the Rockets borrowed a page from the old Shaquille O'Neal game plan and started intentionally fouling Kwame Brown late.

Bryant made a critical play on defense with 2 minutes remaining, jumping in front of Luther Head to steal a pass. He sank two free throws and later drove and kicked out a pass to Parker for a 3-pointer as the Lakers went in front 86-85.

The Rockets twice fouled Brown intentionally in the last four minutes. But when they tried it a third time with 59.1 seconds remaining, the referees ruled it away from the play and sent Bryant to the line for one free throw and gave the Lakers the ball.

Bryant hit the free throw to put the Lakers ahead 89-87 but Yao blocked Luke Walton at one end and hit a turnaround over Brown at the other end. The Lakers had the ball with the score tied 89-89 and 22.5 seconds left in regulation.

Bryant wound up trying to beat the shot clock and a double-team with a jumper from the corner on the move. Yao arrived to help on the play and Bryant's shot was off the mark. Houston had a chance to win with 3.4 seconds remaining.

The Rockets wound up with Battier trying to lob a pass to Yao and escape a five-second violation. The Lakers batted the ball away to send the game into overtime.

Ming also put to rest some of the questions about his ability to find energy in the second of back-to-back games. He finished with 38 points and 18 rebounds in Thursday's loss to Golden State, then came back to dominate the first half of Friday's game.

Yao had 16 points and six blocks by halftime and set the tone as the Rockets crushed the Lakers in the first quarter. The Lakers went inside to Vladimir Radmanovic twice in the first two minutes and Yao erased both of his shots helping on defense.

Before Tuesday's game in Houston, Ronny Turiaf tried to bring Yao's 7-foot-5 size into perspective. Turiaf described looking up at Yao in a game last season, even though Yao was bent over at the waist waiting for free throws to be shot.

It got so bad for the Lakers that 40-year-old Dikembe Mutombo - the NBA's senior citizen - came up with back-to-back blocks against Brian Cook and Maurice Evans in the second quarter. Mutombo wagged his finger after each one.

As has become their custom, the Lakers roared back in the third quarter, which they won 25-13 after going into halftime down by 18.They went into the fourth quarter trailing 66-60 as Andrew Bynum dunked off a pass from Luke Walton.

Bryant tried to bail the Lakers out in the second quarter, scoring 17 points, including 10 in a row during one stretch. He made 6 of 12 shots in the half but also totaled five turnovers. The Lakers trailed 53-35 and fell behind by as many as 21 points.

The Lakers were out of sync the entire half and trailed 29-10 after one quarter. It was their lowest scoring quarter of the season and came as they missed 12 of 15 shots, committed nine turnovers and closed the quarter on the wrong end of an 11-0 run.

Radmanovic started in place of Odom and was blocked twice as well as called for traveling and three-second violations before he was replaced by Brian Cook with 5:39 left in the first quarter. He did not return the rest of the first half.

Bryant twice committed turnovers when he was trapped by the Rockets after crossing halfcourt. The second time, he coughed up the ball to Shane Battier with 1:22 left the second quarter. Battier headed for a layup.

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Photo:

(1 -- color) The Lakers' Vladimir Radmanovic, right, gives Houston's Yao Ming enough room to dunk Friday.

(2) The Lakers' Kobe Bryant is caught by Yao Ming in a pick as the Rockets' Luther Head dribbles toward the basket in the second quarter Friday at Staples Center.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer