SAN ANTONIO ? Kobe Bryant takes a special pleasure in coming into a building full of Laker-haters and leaving them muttering.

“Especially here,” he said Friday after doing his number on a hostile crowd of 35,520 at the Alamodome.

Los Angeles' Derek Fisher tries to drive around San Antonio's David Robinson, who returned to action for the first time since injuring his back during the regular season. The Lakers won, 99-89, Friday in San Antonio.

Bryant finished with 31 points, including four baskets in the final five minutes as Los Angeles pulled away for a 99-89 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game Three of their best-of-seven playoff series.

“Kobe is a big-time player in this league, and tonight he showed that,” teammate Robert Horry said. “I don’t think any of the shots he got tonight were easy. They were all nines on a scale of 10.”

Bryant’s game-clinching run began with a gorgeous alley-oop layup with 4:52 left off a pass from Rick Fox for an 83-80 lead. After Fox dunked off a turnover by Tim Duncan, Bryant scored three of the Lakers’ next four baskets on jumpers as Los Angeles went ahead 92-82.

Shaquille O’Neal scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, while Derek Fisher had 13 points and Samaki Walker 12.

The Lakers have now won 10 straight playoff games on the road. Game Four is at the Alamodome on Sunday.

In his first game after being named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, Duncan struggled through a 9-for-26 shooting performance. He led the Spurs with 28 points and 12 rebounds.

“I missed a couple of layups and a bunch of wide-open shots,” said Duncan. “Those are the kind of shots that turn your game around. You miss those and you are in a slump automatically.”

Rookie point guard Tony Parker had 24 points for San Antonio and Malik Rose added 10 off the bench.

Bryant was shooting 10-for-26 after three quarters, but made all five of his attempts in the fourth, including the alley-oop layup that ignited an 11-2 run.

“He scored when he had to score,” said Fisher. “What we got from Kobe and Shaq tonight is all we can ask from them. It’s up to the rest of us to supply the rest.”

The game was close for the first 45 minutes, with no more than six points separating the teams. But as they have done so many times in the past against the Lakers, the Spurs lost their focus at the end.

San Antonio missed shots on four straight possessions after Duncan pulled them to 81-80 with 6:28 left.

David Robinson, who injured his lower back late in the regular season, started at center for the Spurs after being absent for all but a few minutes of the postseason. He scored six points and collected six rebounds in 21 minutes.