SAN ANTONIO — Even though his Los Angeles Lakers are one win away from the NBA finals, Kobe Bryant knows of a reason to remain wary of the San Antonio Spurs.

"They're the defending champs," Bryant said after the Lakers beat the Spurs 93-91 Tuesday night in Game 4 to take command of the Western Conference finals.

Still, winning three straight is a tall order even for the Spurs, and they know it.

"We had a hill to climb being 0-2. Now we've got Everest to climb being down 3-1," said Brent Barry, who had 23 points for the Spurs off the bench and launched a last-second 3 that would have given San Antonio the win if it had gone in.

It was the first loss in eight games for the Spurs at home this postseason and they face elimination when they play Game 5 in Los Angeles Thursday.

The Lakers were last in the finals in 2004 when they lost to Detroit in five games.

Bryant led the Lakers with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Lamar Odom, who was upset with his Game 3 performance, scored eight of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, and Pau Gasol had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Vladimir Radmanovic added 11 points.

"I think we wore them down a little bit," Gasol said. "Even though they fought back and had a chance to win it at the end, we have to be proud of ourselves the way we came in here and won this game."

Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 29 points and 17 rebounds and Tony Parker scored 23 points and had nine assists.

The Spurs brushed off talk that Barry was fouled on the play by Lakers guard Derek Fisher.

"If I was the official I wouldn't have called that a foul," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

Fisher said he "never thought they would blow a whistle."

"I felt like both of my arms were down," Fisher said. "I didn't really initiate any contact."

The Lakers opened the game on a 22-8 run and never trailed. The Spurs, who tied the game five times, got to 81-79 in the fourth quarter, but the Lakers scored seven straight points.

With the Lakers up 93-86 and 50 seconds to play, Gasol missed two free throws.

"I was a little upset," Gasol said. "I think I lost my focus a little bit. I relaxed, then they made a couple of big buckets. You just can't relax until the game is over, especially against a really good team."

Manu Ginobili, who struggled all night, hit a 3-pointer to bring the Spurs within four. After a miss by Bryant, Parker scored on a fast break when Odom was called for goaltending, bringing the Spurs to 93-91 with 28 seconds to play.

Fisher missed a shot for Los Angeles but the ball went out of bounds and remained in the Lakers' possession with 2 seconds on the shot clock.

Bryant missed a jumper and the Spurs had 2.1 seconds left. When Barry's 3 missed, the Lakers were headed home in command of the series.