CHARLOTTE, NC, Feb. 22 (Ticker) -- This time Kobe Bryant beat the buzzer and victimized the team that originally drafted him.

Bryant hit a fadeaway 18-footer from the right side at the buzzer to lift the Los Angeles Lakers to a thrilling 96-94 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

The game-winning shot came three nights after Bryant's jumper at the buzzer was waved off in a 109-108 loss to Boston. Television replays indicated the ball was still on Bryant's fingertips as time expired and the officials disallowed the shot.

But on Friday, Bryant clearly beat the buzzer with a shot over the taller George Lynch as he fell backwards to the floor and celebrated by pumping his right fist three times and slamming the court with his right hand.

NBA TV highlights from Lakers-Hornets: 56k | 300k Kobe Bryant grabs one of his nine rebounds in a game he would later win for LA at the horn. Garrett W. Ellwood NBAE/Getty Images

"It felt good to hit one that counts," said Bryant, who finished with 21 points. "It felt good in the Celtics game and they took that one away from me. It felt good to come back tonight and hit one. It's a great feeling."

"That's the way it goes sometimes in the NBA," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We lose one game earlier in the week with a last-second shot and then come back tonight and win one in the same fashion."

Bryant and Lakers superstar center Shaquille O'Neal attracted a rare sellout crowd of 23,799 to Charlotte Coliseum -- more than half the average attendance here -- and both stars delivered along with Hornets All-Star Baron Davis, who scored 37 points, one shy of his career high.

O'Neal led Los Angeles with 31 points and converted a three-point play with 39 seconds left to give the Lakers a 94-92 lead. O'Neal was fouled from behind by P.J. Brown on a dunk and converted the free throw.

After Jamal Mashburn and Davis missed 3-point attempts, Brown tracked down the rebound and hit a jumper from the right baseline to tie the game, 94-94, with 9.7 seconds remaining.

The Lakers then set up the winning shot for Bryant, a first-round pick of the Hornets in 1998 who was traded to Los Angeles for center Vlade Divac.

"I feel good when Kobe has the ball late in the game," Lakers forward Rick Fox said. "He really seems to make them count."

Isolated on Lynch, Bryant dribbled to his right as Lynch stayed with him, and then arched a jump shot that swished through the net while falling backwards.

"Lynch played him very well," Hornets coach Paul Silas said. "It was just a great player making a great play. Kobe is that kind of player."

"Kobe thirsts for that kind of play," Jackson said. "He had a couple of misplays earlier in the game when we had chances to take the lead, so he was ready to make up for them."

The Hornets led 81-72, after a jumper by Davis with 7:32 remaining. But the Lakers went on a 14-6 run over the next 3:17 as Bryant scored on a reverse layup and converted four free throws. Robert Horry capped the spurt with a 3-pointer, pulling the Lakers within 87-86 with 4:15 left.

After Davis drove past Bryant on the baseline for a layup, Horry scored again. Davis blew by Bryant for the second straight time for another layup, giving the Hornets a 91-88 advantage with 2:38 left.

Horry missed a 3-pointer, but Bryant grabbed the rebound and scored inside after it appeared O'Neal pushed Charlotte's Elden Campbell from behind. Silas was livid over the non-call and was assessed a technical and Bryant converted the free throw to tie the game at 91-91 with 2:17 remaining.

Brown converted 1-of-2 free throws after being fouled by Horry to give Charlotte the lead with 2:05 left. Campbell blocked a shot by Fox on Los Angeles' next possession, but Mashburn missed a shot in the lane for Charlotte.

After Bryant was whistled for a walking violation, Campbell missed a bank shot in the lane and the Lakers quickly broke out as O'Neal raced to the frontcourt, caught a pass from Fox and dunked as he was fouled from behind by Brown and converted the free throw.

In his third game back from the injured list, O'Neal was 12-of-18 from the field and grabbed seven rebounds.

The Lakers had problems with Charlotte's bruising frontline and were outrebounded, 48-39.

"We've been getting killed on the boards lately and are going to have to correct that to play like we want," said Lakers forward Devean George.

Davis put on quite a show for Charlotte, hitting 13-of-21 shots, including four 3-pointers.

"It was a tough, hard-fought ballgame," Davis said. "We had several opportunities to put them away and couldn't get it done. We didn't do what we needed to do down the stretch."

Brown added 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting and 10 rebounds for the Hornets, who have lost eight straight against the Lakers.

"I thought we played well tonight," Brown said. "We lost to a very tough team. It was a good effort tonight. We did a lot of good things. It's a shame we lost. We came up short on the scoreboard. That's the bottom line."

The Lakers raced to a 21-11 lead as Lindsey Hunter scored nine points and O'Neal added six.

But the Hornets closed the quarter with an 11-2 run as Davis connected on a 3-pointer and a baseline jumper.

Neither team led by more than four points in the second quarter and the Hornets took a 46-42 advantage at intermission on a basket by Brown and two free throws by Davis in the final 27 seconds.

Charlotte extended its lead to 54-46, but the Lakers scored eight straight points on baskets by Bryant, Hunter and Horry and a pair of free throws by O'Neal to tie the game.