SEATTLE, Feb. 14 (Ticker) -- Kobe Bryant is more than making up for the absence of Shaquille O'Neal.

Bryant scored 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied for a 92-87 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics.

Quiet for the first three quarters, Bryant elevated his game to its superstar level in the fourth quarter and gave the Sonics a glimpse at what makes him one of the game's biggest stars.

"It's just refusing to lose," said Bryant, who made 8-of-21 shots. "You have nights when you are struggling and you just have to suck it up, push through it and be determined not to lose."

NBA.comTV highlights from Lakers-Sonics: 56k | 300k Kobe leads the Lakers to a comeback win for the second game in a row.

Bryant, the Most Valuable Player of Sunday's All-Star game, made 4-of-6 shots in the fourth quarter and his spinning reverse layup around perennial NBA All-Defensive first-teamer Gary Payton, gave the Lakers a 90-85 lead with 27 seconds left.

"I think we played good defense on him," Sonics coach Nate McMillan said. "All he could basically do was try to penetrate and get the ball to other guys. He did a couple of spin moves and we had hands in his face, but he hit some tough shots too. But I think we did the best we could possibly do on a player like that. He's a great player, an MVP player, and so I think we played good defense on him."

Bryant, who had his first career triple-double in Tuesday's win over Washington, added 10 assists and seven rebounds as the Lakers improved to 2-1 since O'Neal went on the injured list with a toe ailment.

"He had 10 assists tonight," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "He played a team game. At the end of the game he took it upon himself to make a big basket. I think he really tried to get everybody involved early in the game. He was giving the ball to the big guys. He was doing the type of stuff that is needed to keep us in the game. When we got behind I decided to open up the floor a little bit and give him some operating space."

"I think it surprised them (Sonics), the amount of trust I have in my teammates," Bryant said. "I'm willing to kick the ball out to them and let them take the big shot."

Rick Fox added 12 points and reserve Devean George 10, including a pair of clutch 3-pointers in the fourth quarter for the Lakers, who extended their road winning streak to five games.

Brent Barry scored 21 points and Payton had 17 and 12 assists for Seattle, which fell back to the .500 mark (25-25).

The Sonics also got some bad news on the injury front in the waning seconds of the first half when forward Vin Baker suffered three dislocated toes on his left foot. He was injured while driving to basket and stepping on the foot of Stanislav Medvedenko and will be sidelined indefinitely.

McMillan thought losing Baker changed the game.

"It definitely took away our post-up game," McMillan said. "He's really most of our post-up game. I mean I'd say that's 60 percent of our post-up game and that forced us to play more of a perimeter, pick-and-roll style of play which we've been effective with and had some success with it tonight."

Having split two games against the Lakers this season, but with five wins in the last six encounters over the defending two-time NBA champions, the Sonics built a 70-61 lead early in the fourth quarter on a 19-footer by Predrag Drobnjak.

But the Lakers were able to rally with the use of some long-range shooting, using a 24-9 surge to take an 85-80 lead on a tip-in by Bryant with 2:17 remaining. Fisher had two 3-pointers and George another in the burst.

"We knew that Fisher would eventually step up and hit his shot, we just didn't know when," Jackson said.

Los Angeles was on target from beyond the arc for most of the night, going 8-of-15. Seattle finished 5-of-20 from the arc.

The Sonics showed some resiliency as Vladimir Radmanovic drilled a 3-pointer and Barry made two foul shots, tying it at 85-85 with 1:32 remaining.

George, who provides an abundance of energy off the bench, snapped the tie 25 seconds later and gave the Lakers the lead for good with his second 3-pointer of the quarter from the right sideline.

After Rashard Lewis missed a jumper on the Sonics' ensuing possession, Bryant provided the dagger by spinning around Payton and scoring on his reverse.

"They made some big shots and we didn't get stops," McMillan said. "We gave them 33 points in that fourth quarter and that's way too many points in the fourth quarter if you're trying to win a game."

Lindsey Hunter added 12 points for the Lakers, who made 12-of-20 shots in the fourth quarter to finish at 45 percent (38-of-85) overall.

After the teams played to a standoff in the first half, the Sonics started the third quarter on a 14-4 run, taking their biggest lead of the contest at 55-45 with 6:15 left in the period following a free throw by Payton.

Barry scored 10 points in the quarter, helping the Sonics to a 66-59 edge entering the final period.

Desmond Mason finished with 12 points and Lewis 11 for the Sonics, who shot 43 percent (34-of-79) and held a 46-38 rebounding advantage.