Kobe Bryant scored 10 of his 21 points in the final period when the Los Angeles Lakers erased a nine-point deficit to post their third win of the season over San Antonio, 90-86 Wednesday night.

Los Angeles Lakers forward Karl Malone (11) causes San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) to lose control of the ball during the fourth quarter in San Antonio, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2003. Los Angeles won 90-86.[Reuters]

The Lakers trailed 71-62 after three quarters but made eight of their final 16 shots. Karl Malone, who finished with 16, shot 4-for-4 in the fourth, while Shaquille O'Neal recorded five of his nine blocked shots.

The Spurs shot just 3-for-17 in the final 12 minutes and stumbled to their fourth straight loss. The defending NBA champions are now 9-10. They have not been below .500 this late in the season since 1996-97 — before the team drafted Tim Duncan.

Duncan, returning from a one-game suspension for pushing a referee in Saturday's loss at Golden State, finished with 30 points and 15 rebounds.

Devean George added 18 for Los Angeles, which extended its winning streak to seven, Gary Payton had 16 and O'Neal 15. O'Neal narrowly missed a triple-double, grabbing 16 rebounds.

A 3-pointer by Tony Parker, the Spurs' first basket of the fourth, gave San Antonio its final lead — 80-78 with 5:05 left. A free throw by George and a layup by Payton put the Lakers ahead for good with 4:16 remaining.

The Spurs hit nine of their first 15 attempts from the floor to build an 18-11 lead late in the first quarter, but a pair of layups by Payton and 3-pointers from Bryant and George gave the Lakers their final lead of the half, 21-20.

A 20-8 run by San Antonio early in the second quarter stretched the advantage to 46-31. The Lakers outscored the Spurs 10-1 over the final four minutes of the half as San Antonio missed its final seven shots.

O'Neal scored his first points of the game on a dunk over Duncan with 3:23 remaining in the first half, and Payton made two more layups and a 4-foot jumper to pull Los Angeles to 47-41 at the break.

Notes:@ After playing three times in the five weeks of the season, the Spurs and Lakers don't meet again until April 4 at the Staples Center. ... O'Neal passed David Robinson for 24th place on the NBA career scoring list with 20,792 points. ... San Antonio, now 0-2 in December, has not had a losing month since January 1999, a league-best run of 32 straight months. ... Payton scored his 19,000th point on a layup late in the first quarter. His six assists gave him 7,706 for his career, five shy of Rod Strickland for sixth place all-time. ... The Lakers play in Dallas on Thursday in a matchup of division leaders.

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