On the same day ESPN insider David Thorpe reports on Phil Jackson's comments that Kobe will not return to 100% after off-season knee surgery, Kobe proves them right. Last season Kobe had an 81-point game. Last night, Kobe only managed to score 64.2% of this amazing total with his 52-point game.

Mathematically, he might be 29 points short, but in terms of playing ability, the guy is back and better than ever.

The magic started at the end of the second half; I was sure that there were too many players and too much distance between Kobe's recovering knee and the rim for him to actually dunk...and then I hear my neighbors scream from the next apartment as he drops the hammer giving the Lakers a 53-41 lead. So much for the critics who say his knee is too weak to throw it down.

Things got even better in the 3rd quarter with an equally amazing dunk during part of his 30-point quarter (tying his own team team record) on 10/10 shooting and 9/9 from the charity stripe. In the fourth, Kobe saw limited action as the Lakers were well on their way to a 132-102 victory over the Utah Jazz and their league best record.

While mathematically Kobe may have come up short, as a player and as a teammate, Kobe is playing the best basketball of his life. Unlike last year's defensive-liability MVP, he's doing it on both ends of the court, keeping Kirilenko scoreless after making him his defensive responsibility. Many argue that Kobe is still struggling but the reality is Kobe has players to pass the ball to and his point guard isn't Chucky Atkins.

With Andrew Bynum dominating the paint, Lamar Odom playing the best basketball of his life, and the depth of Walton, Turiaf, and the rest of the Laker squad, it's not that Kobe can't score 30 points a game, it's that he doesn't need to. Not going to lie though, it's pretty sweet when he does.