The heart and soul of the Los Angeles Lakers organization is nearing his return to action, almost eight months after going down with a gruesome Achilles injury.
Now over the age of 35 and assuredly human, it's clear even he has his limits. But what are they? Was this injury it? The end of the Black Mamba as we knew him?
It wasn't; it isn't.
There is still fight left in Vino. We saw it last season. All of last season. We saw it after he went down. We're seeing it now.
And we'll continue to see it long after he's officially back.
Silencing Doubters Is Kind of His Thing
Before the Achilles injury, there was a dominant Kobe. Where there should've been a declining Mamba, there was a transcendent force tearing up a league brimming with younger, allegedly more athletic superstars, some of which were more than 14 years his junior.
And still, Kobe fought. Clinging onto an era that should've been lost, Kobe fought. He battled time, he resisted age, he combated routine trajectories. There was no downturn. Pratfalls were nonexistent. The brilliance of Kobe lived on because, as Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski says, the Mamba wouldn't let it die:
The genius of Bryant has forever been in the details, the hours upon hours of repetition, the preparation of mind and body, the understanding of edges large and small that separated him and everyone else. He isn't chasing a championship this season, as much as he's chasing his own basketball mortality. At 35 years old, Bryant should've been on a steep decline a year ago. Only, he had been playing at the highest of levels. He defied everything, defied everyone – until that Achilles' snapped in April.
Nearly two decades into his career, Kobe was doing everything he's always done—shooting, s...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
