No, the Lakers weren't going to allow themselves to go to Houston in a 2-0 hole And no, Bryant wasn't going to let the Rockets' rough-and-tumble defense push him around or prevent him from putting his stamp on the outcome.

In a game that featured two ejections, five technical fouls and more bloodshed, Bryant led the Lakers through the fray to a desperately needed victory. He scored a game-high 40 points on 16-for-27 shooting to propel the Lakers to Wednesday's 111-98 win, evening the series heading to Houston for Game 3 on Friday night.

"I've played in some hard-fought playoff series - Sacramento, Portland," Bryant said. "This one is shaping up to be another physical series. It's fun; '80s style."

If Monday's eye-opening Houston victory established the Rockets as legitimate threats to the Western Conference crown, the Lakers' rebuttal two nights later showed they're not ready to abdicate the throne. They shredded a defense that had stymied them so thoroughly in Game 1, taking control with a 16-5 run to start the third quarter after the Rockets had forged a tie at halftime.

The physical play turned chippy late in the third quarter when Derek Fisher received a flagrant foul and ejection for leveling Luis Scola with a hockey check to the chest as the Houston forward came to set a screen. On the previous play, Scola, Lamar Odom and Luke Walton were hit with technicals after Scola tugged on Odom's jersey following Odom's drive to the rim and jawing ensued.

The sequence could leave the Lakers without Fisher for Game 3 pending the results of an NBA review today. Asked if he was concerned Fisher might get suspended, Coach Phil Jackson said "absolutely not," emphasizing that Fisher was just trying to run through a screen, but Scola was further away than he thought.

"The referees have to understand what it is," Jackson said. "If there's a pick set and you run through it, it's a foul. If you run to it, it's not a foul. He ran through it, so it's a foul . . . He was surprised to be ejected. We were, too."

The fourth quarter threatened to spiral further out of control when Ron Artest got called for a foul fighting for position on a rebound with Bryant. The enigmatic Rockets forward ran first toward a referee and then toward Bryant, forcing referees to separate them, and then pointed at Bryant and made a throat-slashing gesture, leading to his ejection.

Artest blamed Bryant afterward, saying he caused the confrontation by swiping at his arms and elbowing him in the neck during the rebound battle.

"I told Kobe, you can do whatever you want to do, and I'm not reacting," Artest said. "But the referees lost control. In Game 1 he elbowed Shane (Battier) . . . My team, we're not like that. We're going to win fair and square or lose fair and square."

For all the firepower and flair the Lakers flaunted in sinking 13 of their first 15 shots to build a 16-point first-quarter lead, the standing ovations had turned to uneasy silence by halftime. A 24-9 blitz to start the second quarter vaulted Houston into the lead, the Lakers salvaging a halftime tie only after Bryant buried a three at the end.

With Yao Ming limited to 10 first-half minutes - he finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds - Houston leaned on the steady shooting of Artest and 16 second-quarter points from backup big man Carl Landry.