That's a lot of wishful thinking there, flapping in the humid Florida air. The notion that any Basketball player turns each episode of his NBA life into a comic book ending is ludicrous, the rate of failure in the game way too high to sustain any pretense.

Not even Kobe Bryant rescues every Lakers game in distress. You may have noticed as recently as Tuesday night, when his late miscues helped Orlando win Game 3.

The Lakers still have a 2-1 lead heading into Game 4 of the NBA Finals tonight and will be hoping - no, expecting - a superior bounce-back game from Bryant.

If anyone in today's game comes close to inspiring Superman-level awe, that would be the Lakers star who is routinely described as the best clutch player in the game - or "closer" as the new vernacular insists.

Best, of course, doesn't mean always. It just means Bryant can puzzle people when he doesn't come through.

"Am I surprised?" Pau Gasol said Wednesday, when asked about Bryant's rocky ending in Game 3. "I guess you could say that. Most of the time he is effective and does finish well. Everybody talks about him being a clutch player, which he's deserved and earned.

"But I've seen him a lot of times finish well and help us win, and other times not. It's just the way it is."

Bryant began Game 3 as a one-man forest fire, scoring 17 first-quarter points on 7-of-10 shooting, some of them on shots from the You're Kidding Me Catalog.

One of the Orlando defenders not staying with him was Mickael Pietrus, who described the experience like this: "I was like, `What are you trying - to get me my flight tickets back to France early?'"

By the end, though, Pietrus found himself in a tighter series, not in a 3-0 hole and not one game from the airport. Pietrus even collected kudos when Bryant's turnover in the last 30 seconds ended up in his hands.

It was just one of several un-Kobe-like aspects to the game. He faded to 4-of-15 shooting after the torrid first quarter. He shot 5 of 10 from the foul line.

With a chance to give the Lakers their first lead of the second half, he missed a three-pointer with two minutes left.

With a chance to pull the Lakers within two points with 59 seconds left, he missed a free throw, leaving them three down.

With a chance to get them even or ahead at the half-minute mark, and the Lakers down, 104-102, he had the turnover.

With a chance to pull them within one point with 20 seconds left, he became the first of three Lakers to clang a three-pointer off the rim.

"It was disappointing," he said. "There were a couple of mistakes that I made that I wouldn't mind getting back. That being said, you've got to pick your head up, put one foot in front of the other and keep on moving."

That's exactly what the Magic is afraid of - Bryant still moving.

"He loves the challenge of bouncing back, and he doesn't like the feeling of disappointment settling in," Magic guard Rafer Alston said. "He's going to look to impose his will on (Game 4)."

"Personally, I don't think Kobe had a bad game," said Howard, maybe hoping he's got a worse one in him than the 31-point, eight-assist game that the stat sheet reported. "I know Kobe is going to come back the next game and try to do whatever he can. We have to be ready for him."

There has been sporadic speculation throughout the postseason that Bryant's tank is dangerously close to empty. Supposedly, fatigue from a long postseason in 2008, followed by the Olympic gold medal summer, followed by an even longer postseason this spring is finally catching up to the most important of all Lakers .

Coach Phil Jackson has referenced it a couple of times and said he was carefully monitoring Bryant's fourth-quarter minutes Tuesday.

Bryant isn't interested in the topic. Asked about "hitting the wall," there was this interview room exchange:

Kobe: "So what if I did? I didn't, but so what if I did?"

Reporter: "What does it mean if you did?"

Kobe: "It means nothing."

Reporter: "Because?"

Kobe: "Because I'll run straight through it."

If that sounds like something Superman would do, well, let's remember that "the wall" is just a figure of speech.

And being the best Basketball player left in the postseason, not a superhero, has been good enough for the Lakers so far.

Reach Gregg Patton at 951-368-9597 or gpatton@PE.com