by Mike Kahn

Updated: May 11, 2008, 9:36 PM EST 1516 comments

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In the face of a spectacular comeback sparked by his Lakers teammates to force overtime and despite a strained back he suffered at the outset of the game, the MVP tried to do it all and couldn't.

The result was a 123-115 win for the Utah Jazz to deadlock the Western Conference semifinal series at 2-2 heading back to Los Angeles for Game 5 Wednesday night.

Bryant, who finished with 33 points, strained his back 90 seconds into the game on a jump shot and aggravated it on a drive in the third quarter, leaving the game for a spell. He was 3-for-14 in the fourth quarter and overtime upon his return.

Meanwhile, the Jazz bench was sensational, outscoring the Lakers reserves 39-16. The aggressive play of the starters — led by All-NBA point guard Deron Williams' 29 points and 14 assists and Andrei Kirilenko's 15 points and 5 blocks — had the Jazz seemingly in control the entire game.

But former Jazz guard Derek Fisher, saddled with foul trouble much of the game from guarding Williams, had something to say about it down the stretch. Trailing by 12 with less than four minutes left, the veteran lefty fired a 10-point barrage at his former teammates in a 73-second stretch, including a trio of 3-pointers and a steal, that pulled the Lakers to within 102-98 with 2:44 left.

At that point, Bryant had become a facilitator, feeding Pau Gasol for a layup, completing a three-point play of his own, and then feeding Odom for the game-tying 3-pointer. In between, Williams hit a big jumper and Carlos Boozer sank a pair of free throws to put the Jazz up two with 33.7 seconds left. Odom missed another trey, but Gasol grabbed it for his 10th rebound of the game and the Lakers had one more chance with 7.8 seconds left. Bryant drove and missed, only to have Odom step in for the put-back to tie the game at 108-108 and force overtime.

But Fisher never got another shot. Gasol, who finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, took one, as did Sasha Vujacic, and Odom added a late dunk that mattered little. Bryant, clearly unable to straighten up comfortably, let alone explode into shots with his typical rhythm, was 1-for-7 in the extra period, and the Lakers were done.

Mehmet Okur had 4 points in the overtime on the way to 18 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists for the Jazz, with Williams and Kyle Korver adding 4 apiece. It didn't make sense that Fisher and Odom, who had 26 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks, were not the focus of the offense with Bryant as the decoy, as he was down the stretch of regulation.

Besides the obvious issue of Bryant's back injury, the Lakers were flustered by the attack mode coming from Williams and the Jazz bench of Korver, Paul Millsap, Matt Harpring and Ronnie Price. It seemed to rattle the Lakers early, with Lakers reserve big man Ronny Turiaf getting ejected with a flagrant foul II when he knocked down Price less than two minutes into the second quarter.

That set a tone that hadn't been there for the Jazz in this series — one as the clear aggressor. The Jazz made 37-of-45 foul shots compared to 14-of-25 for the Lakers. In the first three games of the series, the Lakers were 103-of-126 from the free-throw line compared to 55-of-74 for the Jazz. In other words, the Lakers were making an average of 34.3 free throws compared to 18.3 for the Jazz, and that 16-point differential had allowed L.A. to go up 2-1 in the series.

Taking it to another level, Bryant alone was making 15.3 free throws a game.

This time around it was different. Of course, it helped being at home, but the Jazz nearly blew this game when it seemed under control, similarly to Game 3. Nonetheless, the series is deadlocked heading back to the Staples Center for Game 5.

The health of Kobe Bryant's back will be a major factor in Game 5. (Andrew D. Bernstein / Getty Images)

For all the adjustments that will be made, the one made by the Lakers' team chiropractor to Bryant's back by Wednesday night may be the more important one. Because he was warm, he was able to play through it on Sunday. It couldn't have been pretty on the flight home, let alone waking up Monday morning. The specific problem and the severity won't be known either. One way or another, he had learned this entire season to trust his teammates, but under the duress of an overtime battle and the injury, he tried to go it alone and the long-armed defense of Kirilenko ate him up.

Kobe should've known better. The coaching staff should have emphasized it more. But it isn't easy to quell the competitive zeal of a superstar at any time, particularly at this juncture of the playoffs. The good news for the Jazz is that they have the Lakers shaken. They have gotten virtually nothing from Vladimir Radmanovic and Jordan Farmar in this series. Luke Walton has done the big fade, and Turiaf may be suspended.

The big-time play of Millsap, Harpring, Price and Korver was a huge difference-maker on Sunday. Actually, that's the way it has gone in the home vs. road play in just about every series in the second round. After all, the Lakers' loss worsened the record of the road team in the semifinals to 1-13 prior to the Hornets playing at San Antonio Sunday night. The only road win came Saturday night in Orlando, with the Pistons pulling out a one-point vicory over the Magic. In the first round, the road team was 3-21, making it 4-34 overall in this postseason. So this was hardly an aberration.

Nonetheless, this series took on a different tone with the uncertain status of Bryant and the guarantee of a sixth game back in Salt Lake City on Friday night. Then again, this season's version of the Jazz changes their tune every time they hit the road — 17-24 during there regular season, but a solid 2-3 so far in the playoffs.

In other words, the ambiguity of Wednesday's game adds even more juice to this matchup. Whoever said a series doesn't start until somebody wins on the road obviously hasn't watched this one.