BOSTON — Keep the game close, and the Los Angeles Lakers know Kobe Bryant can win it for them.

Spot the Boston Celtics 24 points, and that's too much even for the NBA's MVP to overcome.

Bryant and the Lakers ran out of time Sunday night, when a 41-point fourth quarter was ultimately futile in a 108-102 loss in Game 2 of the NBA finals, because they scored only 42 in the first half.

"I kept telling the team, we played as poorly as we could possibly play for 2Z\x quarters in the middle of the third quarter," Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson said. "We just can't play any worse than this."

Nor can they play much better than they did in the final 12 minutes, when they shot 64 percent from the field, going 7-of-11 from 3-point range, and cut a 24-point deficit with 7:55 left down to two points in the last minute.

The comeback couldn't help the Lakers in this game. But Bryant believes it might have purpose in the ones that remain.

"Mathematically we felt like if we cut it down to about 10 — the goal was to cut it down to 10 with about 7 minutes to go," Bryant said. "We weren't able to do that, so after that it was about slicing it and getting it to single digits and applying more and more pressure. That's what we did and I think they learned a lot tonight because we're a young team and I think that shows you're never really out of a game."

Bryant scored 13 of his 30 points in the last 7:40 during his best performance against the Celtics in four games this season.

"We noticed some things in the fourth quarter that we can do that we'll look at and see if we can't use them at Staples," he said. "We just had to make a stand a little bit. We've got to make a stand, but at the same time, you've still got to play.

"What we have to do is get to those loose balls. We've got to get timely rebounds, and we have to stop them in transition, knocking down those 3s, and we'll be fine. A free throw or two wouldn't hurt."

Only three teams have ever recovered from the 2-0 deficit Los Angeles faces to win the finals, but the teams play the next three games at Staples Center, where the Lakers are 8-0 in the postseason and have won 14 straight since last losing March 28.

"We've come too far to really sweat being down 2-0," Bryant said. "We're going to go home and handle our business."

Bryant, who shot 9-for-26 and scored 24 points in a 98-88 loss in Game 1, shot 11-for-23 Sunday night, and had five of his eight assists in the final period.

The Lakers had only themselves to blame for falling so far behind. They were within nine points before being outscored 27-12 to finish the third quarter and start the fourth, mainly because of a sieve-like defense.