Bryant scored 12 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter in a 108-105 win over the Utah Jazz in Game 6 on Friday, putting the Lakers in the Western Conference finals for the first time in four years.

The Jazz rallied from a 16-point deficit at the end of the third quarter to get within two points in the final minute, but Bryant was able to stop the momentum shift just in time and avoid having to play a Game 7 on Monday in Los Angeles.

"When you play here, you have to have a cushion. You know they're going to claw and scratch their way back into the game," Bryant said. "You know they're going to find a way to make a run."

The Jazz made five 3-pointers in the fourth and outrebounded the Lakers 18-4 in the final period, pulling down 10 offensive boards and converting them into 11 points. It wasn't quite enough after being dominated by the Lakers through the first three quarters.

It was the only win by the visiting team in the series and gave Bryant a few extra days to rest his back, which seized up on him in Game 4 here on Sunday and limited him when the Lakers took a 3-2 series lead on Wednesday. By Friday, the treatment he had gone through all week had Bryant back in MVP-form.

"Kobe is the ultimate competitor because he competes against himself. If he gets 50 one game, the next game he wants to get 55 or 60," said Lamar Odom, who had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers. "That kind of rubs off on us a little bit."

The Lakers will host the winner of Monday's Game 7 between San Antonio and New Orleans when the Western Conference finals begin next week. The Lakers are 8-2 in the playoffs and unbeaten in Staples Center, where they will have home-court advantage again as the top seed in the West.

"It's a great accomplishment to get to the conference finals, but we believe we can accomplish much more," Bryant said.

Pau Gasol finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds and teamed up with Odom to shut down Utah in the lane for most of the first three quarters. Gasol had four blocks and Odom had another as the Lakers flustered the Jazz early and built a lead that was too big for the Jazz to overcome.

Utah was 5-for-8 on 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and had a chance to tie it just before the buzzer, but Mehmet Okur and Deron Williams both missed from beyond the arc in the final seconds and Utah's season was over.

Williams led Utah with 21 points and 14 assists. Carlos Boozer had 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Okur had 16 points and 10 boards, hitting two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter during Utah's comeback.

"The same thing that hurt us in L.A., hurt us again. We had to play from behind and we could never get over the hump," Williams said. "We gave them a little pressure in the second half and they got a little bit frantic. We should have been doing that the whole game."

Los Angeles stopped Utah's pick-and-roll and just about everything else the Jazz tried inside until the fourth. The Jazz hurried outside shots, which weren't going in and the rebounds seemed to always bounce Gasol's way.

"They made it difficult for us from the start in stopping us from trying to do what we wanted to do," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "That's what experience can do. They got in our face a little bit and gave us trouble right from the start."

Utah finally started hitting from the perimeter and getting inside the lane for points in the fourth, but Bryant kept the Lakers from blowing the lead. Bryant made all seven of his foul shots in the fourth and finished the game 9-for-19 from the floor.

Reserve Paul Millsap added 15 points for Utah and led the Jazz on a 14-5 run early in the fourth quarter that set up the thrilling finish.

"I was excited all night and I felt if we could get a little run going I thought we'd get back into the game but we just couldn't get settled down until the end," Sloan said.

The Lakers led 101-91 with about 2 minutes left when the Jazz made their last-gasp push. Okur hit two 3s, then Andrei Kirilenko hit another to cut the lead to 103-100 after Millsap blocked a layup by Bryant. Odom hit two free throws, followed by another 3 by Kirilenko, then Bryant hit two more from the line to make it 107-103 with 15.5 seconds left.

The Jazz went for a quick two points and scored on a dunk by Williams, then got a break when Derek Fisher went 1-for-2 from the line. Utah just needed a 3-pointer and got two off, but missed both and the buzzer sounded.

The Utah fans, who were loud all night and alternated between booing the Lakers and the officials, cheered the Jazz loudly as they left the floor for the final time.

"You know we had a valiant effort," Boozer said. "We just fell a little short."

Notes:@ The Lakers improved to 36-1 when winning first two games of best-of-seven series. ... Utah was 37-4 at home this season and 4-2 in the playoffs. ... Boozer fouled out with 4:34 left in the game. ... Fisher, who played in Utah last season, and Williams hugged after the final horn. ... The Lakers took 13 more free throws than the Jazz, getting sent to the line repeatedly as the Jazz tried to make up the deficit and finished 31-for-38.

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