The man performed a pump fake as he had done millions and millions of times. But then Lakers guard Kobe Bryant soon performed something he has not done in over nine months, even in practice.

Bryant drove right into the teeth in the Rockets’ defense, leaving the Lakers’ 37-year-old star to reference the Casey Jr. train from the Disney movie, “Dumbo.”

“‘I think I can. I think I can,'” Bryant said, quoting the line from the circus train as it went up a long hill.

Then Bryant soon found out he can.

Bryant drove past Rockets forward and former Lakers teammate Trevor Ariza off of two dribbles with enough speed that Bryant recalled thinking, “‘My legs feel pretty good.'” Bryant then navigated the paint and still thought, “‘They still feel pretty good. Then Bryant lifted off and put his surgically repaired right shoulder in harm’s way, a mere nine months after needing season-ending surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff after dunking late January in New Orleans.

“When I was up there, I thought about my shoulder a little bit,” Bryant said. “But I said: `Dude, how many times am I going to jump when my legs actually feel fine? So I might as well just give it a shot.'”

So, Bryant did. He stayed in the air and threw down a one-handed dunk over Houston forward Clint Capela, providing a memorable highlight early in the third quarter of an otherwise forgettable Lakers’ 107-87 loss to the Rockets on Thursday at Staples Center. It also captured Bryant’s 22-point performance on 9-of-16 shooting, eight rebounds and three assists in 32 minutes.

“Pretty impressive for a 37 year old,” Lakers coach Byron Scott deadpanned.

No one else was subdued.

The 18,977 fans at Staples Center soon yelled “KO-BE!” over and over again. Bryant wagged his tongue and smiled profusely. So did Rockets center and former Lakers teammate Dwight Howard, who laughed at his teammates’ expense from the sideline. Two days after Bryant playfully dismissed Lakers rookie forward Larry Nance Jr. throwing down a one-handed dunk over Milwaukee center John Henson, Nance Jr. approached Bryant with some learned wisdom.

“He came up to me and said, ‘Yo, that’s what I’ve got to do, huh?'” Bryant said. “I said, ‘Yeah, if an old man can do it, you should be able to attack the rim just as hard.'”

Once Bryant did, Lakers rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell sprinted from the bench to the baseline underneath the Rockets’ basket to celebrate with actor Denzel Washington. Referees soon slapped Russell with a technical foul.

“I tried to get back before the refs see me,” Russell said. “I caught Denzel Washigton’s attention and I was like, ‘I don’t know what I did.’ The ref caught me. How much am I going to get fined?”

No matter.

“It was awesome,” Bryant said, laughing. “It’s the best tech D’Angelo will ever get.”

It didn’t appear Russell immediately thought that way.

“He said: `Hey, man, you’ve got to pay my tech on that one,'” Bryant recalled, laughing some more. “‘I said: `Ah, you ran the baseline off your own free will.'”

Hence, Russell vowed he learned his lesson.

“I said, ‘Next time every time I do something exciting, I’ll do this.'” Russell said before flashing two fingers on his right hand. “‘You have two years left in you.'”

Bryant reported various Rockets players said the same thing. But Bryant has vowed he will retire following the 2015-16 season in what will mark his 20th NBA career.

“Not going to happen,” Bryant said. “No way.”

After all, Bryant has suffered three season-ending injuries in consecutive seasons, including his left Achilles tendon (April 2013), left knee (Dec. 2013) and right shoulder (Dec. 2014).

So even if Lakers forward Julius Randle described Bryant’s heroic feat as “vintage Mamba,” Randle hardly expected Bryant to shed out of his skin.

“That caught me by surprise,” Randle admitted. “I hadn’t seen him dunk all year. I teased him to get him to dunk or something. He said, ‘No I’m not doing it.’ I don’t think he knows where it came from.”

Randle was right.

“I have no idea where it came from, but it was there,” Bryant said. “I can’t really explain it.”

But then Bryant did.

He reported that his legs have stopped stiffening up for the past week amid off-days and moments of rest during the game. Bryant feels like he has gained his timing back after missing two weeks during training camp with an injured left calf. He had also only played in a combined 41 games in the past two seasons amid the aforementioned injuries to his left knee and right shoulder.

“I feel good, man. I feel fine. I feel normal,” Bryant said. “My timing’s down and the legs feel good consistently. It’s tough. You just try to trust the process. I mean, I worked so hard during the summer and I’ve worked so hard during the season. So you’ve just got to trust it a little bit and believe that eventually the rhythm will come back.”

With that rhythm coming back, Bryant has adopted a less-is-more approach by striking a balance between both looking for his shot and facilitating. In the past six games, Bryant has shot 49.4 percent from the field and has averaged four assists. In the Lakers’ loss on Tuesday to Houston, Bryant posted 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the third quarter on plays that included his dunk, two layups and three pull-up jumpers.

“I feel like I can maintain this, but it’s always a give-and-take with Father Time,” said Bryant, who has averaged 16.7 points on 33.9 percent shooting in 30.8 minutes per game. “Sometimes he lets me lead the way and sometimes he leads the way. So you just kind of roll with it.”

Hence, Bryant rolled with it as he found himself with an open look at the basket. After Father Time delivered too many lethal punches to count, Bryant swung back for one unforgettable moment.

“It’s always a good idea not to mock Father Time,” Bryant said. “As long as he lets me lead the way, I’m cool with that.”

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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter and on Facebook. E-mail him at mark.medina@langnews.com