LOS ANGELES - What better way for Andrew Bynum to show his coaches that he deserves to be on the court in the waning moments of close games than by scoring the biggest bucket of a back-and-forth game?

With the score tied, the pressure mounting and a sellout crowd on its feet, Bynum watched as Miami sent three defenders at Kobe Bryant, crashed hard to the glass and tipped in Bryant's errant runner. The putback gave the Lakers a two-point lead with 18.5 seconds remaining, propelling the home team to a hard-fought 108-105 victory.

"I only got one offensive rebound the whole game, but I'll take it," Bynum said. "I got good position off Kobe's drive. Everybody went at him and they left me sitting there. I just put it back in."

While the Heat (19-7) lacks the complementary scorers or towering big men to challenge some of the Eastern Conference's elite teams, Miami's just stubborn enough and just resilient enough to give the Lakers fits. Less than a month after holding LA to its lowest offensive output of the season in an upset victory in Miami, the Heat pushed the Lakers to the brink on their home floor, rallying from a 13-point third-quarter deficit but falling just short of the season sweep.

Miami began its final surge with less than a minute remaining, erasing a four-point deficit on a Michael Beasley 19-footer and a steal by Dwyane Wade that led to a transition dunk by Udonis Haslem. Even after Bynum's go-ahead putback, the Heat still had one more chance, but Chris Quinn's potential go-ahead three from the right corner clanged harmlessly off the rim with under 10 seconds left, and the Lakers made all four of their free throws to clinch the victory.

"We will take that wide-open three from one of the best three-point shooters in the league," Miami coach Eric Spoelstra said.

For a game in which Pau Gasol missed 10 of his first 12 shots and Kobe Bryant scored only 19 points on 5-for-14 shooting, the Lakers had to feel fortunate walking off the court with a victory. Eighteen points from Vladimir Radmanovic and 13 points and 11 assists from Derek Fisher helped pick up the slack for the Lakers, as did another strong performance from Bynum.

Held to just four points on 2-for-4 shooting in the Lakers' loss to the Heat last month, Bynum did a far better job Sunday night adjusting to the undersized Miami front line's tactic of fronting the post. He scored 14 of his season-high 24 points in the first half.

"Their team really begs the fact that you want to get the ball inside because they are a bit smaller," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "It takes an exercise to get the ball down there, but we were willing to do that tonight."

In reality, neither Bryant nor Wade was the best player on his team in the most crucial moments of the game. Beasley spearheaded the Heat comeback with 19 of his 23 points coming in the second half, while Bynum provided by far the most timely putback of his season.

"We were yelling at Andrew to hit the boards all night, and he did it at the appropriate moment," Jackson said.