This series should be all but over. The Lakers could be up 3-0, a deficit no NBA team ever has overcome in the history of the playoffs.

But Kobe Bryant cost them Game 3.

Yes. Kobe.  The man who has helped the Lakers win so many games over the past decade was awful in the fourth quarter. Decisively awful. The Lakers came back from a nine-point deficit to force a tie with 2:41 left.

And then Kobe happened.

Forcing the action. Hogging the ball. Casting off bad shots.

A blown layup on a fastbreak with 3:33 left. A crushing turnover that was “credited” to Pau Gasol but actually was Kobe losing the ball while trying to split a double team.

And five missed free throws in 10 attempts. In a four-point game.

If Kobe is Kobe in the fourth quarter, the Lakers win.

If Kobe is even a lesser Kobe in the final 12 minutes, the Lakers win.

But this was Bad Kobe, preoccupied with having the ball in his hands — to the detriment, ultimately, of his team.

The Lakers shouldn’t have had a chance to win. Not with the Magic shooting an NBA Finals record 62.5 percent from the field. Not with the Magic winning the rebound battle, again. Not with the Magic getting 20 from Rafer Alston and 18 from Mickael Pietrus.

But they were hanging around, in part because they shot so well. As did Kobe early, when he made 7-of-10 in a sensational first quarter. He was so hot in that quarter, making shots with ridiculous degrees of difficulty, that perhaps it skewed his thinking the rest of the game. Because he was never able to replicate that stretch.

He missed 11 of his final 15 shots. And one of the makes was the game-already-over putback with a second to play.

So, yes. The Lakers could have won this one. That’s the good news, I guess. The Magic shot lights-out and still never could pull away.

If the Lakers play a smidgen more defense on Thursday, if the Magic misses a few more open shots … the Lakers can win with an average performance.

But now we’re talking about ifs. Instead of considering a 3-0 lead and a closeout game on Thursday. And thinking the Lakers wasted an effort good enough to win a game.

Orlando is back in this. And when we look back at Courtney Lee and the missed layup at the buzzer at the end of the fourth quarter in Game 2 … the Magic could be up 2-1. They could be 2-2 in 48 hours.  Especially if Kobe Bryant shows up feeling reckless again.