Finding the Fountain of Youth: Kobe is back...for now.

The Black Mamba has his swagger back.

I hate you Dr. Peter Wehling. But at the same time I love you. Somehow you have managed to direct Kobe Bryant’s knee to the fountain of youth; an incident that has also propelled the Lakers back towards the top of the Western Conference. This revival has Kobe looking like a frontrunner for the MVP and places that elusive sixth ring, the one to tie Mr. Michael Jordan, back into the window. Even in this shortened, gauntlet of a season, it is looking possible that Kobe and the Lakers are still here.

After last seasons drop in production I expected to see Kobe fall off even more this season. Last season Kobe averaged his least amount of points since the ’03-’04 season; his least amount of minutes, rebounds, and steals since his second season; his least amount of assists per game since the ’05-’06 season; and the least amount of blocks per game in his career. To add to his decline, he also led the Lakers to a second round sweep at the hands of the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks. At the end of the ’10-’11 season it looked as though age was finally catching up to Kobe.

As the lockout lingered and the chance of an NBA season seemed minimal, Kobe’s title window shrunk along with his shot at climbing higher on the all-time scoring list and potentially catching Kareem at the top. But reports began coming in concerning a controversial knee surgery that Kobe was undergoing in Germany at the hands of Dr. Peter Wehling. Something called “a derivation of platelet-rich plasma therapy.” The process involves taking plasma out of the body, rolling it around in a centrifuge, isolating platelets, and then injecting those platelets at the point of injury. Then the lockout ended, the season started, and the surgery worked.

Twelve games into the season Kobe is playing 36.8 minutes per game, nearly three more than last year. He is averaging nearly 6 rebounds per game, something he hasn’t done since the ’07-’08 season. He is averaging 5.7 assists per game, something he hasn’t done since the ’04-’05 season. He already has almost half as many blocks this season as he did in all 82 games last season. Most impressive of all, he has scored forty points in back-to-back games and leads the league in scoring, averaging 30.3 points per game; his most since the ’06-’07 season.

Individual accolades aside, Kobe’s rejuvenation has also bolstered the Lakers back into contention. After starting off the season with two tough losses to the Bulls and Kings, the Lakers have since won eight out of ten games, with the two losses coming to formidable opponents in Denver and Portland. Kobe has led the Lakers (8-4) back to the top of the Pacific Division and two games out of the top seed in the Western Conference.

Of course I may be jumping the gun on this. Kobe, being one of the all-time greats may just be getting hot for a week and maybe this tails off in a few days. Perhaps age has caught up with him and this is the last glimpse of the old Kobe we will get. The Lakers’ schedule will get noticeably harder in the coming days when they have to face (in order) the Clippers, Heat, Magic, Pacers, Clippers, Bucks and the upstart Wolves in a span of 16 days; a list of teams that includes some of the top defenses and most explosive offenses in the league. If Kobe can hold up this production over that stretch I might be willing to go all-in on him winning the MVP and leading the Lakers out of the West one more time. But as for now, we all must wait.