Before opening night, Kobe Bryant last played in a January 21st loss to the Pelicans in New Orleans. That night, he played just under 30 minutes, while logging a line of 14 points, seven rebounds and two to go with a block, two fouls and four turnovers. He shot 6-for-14 from the field (42.9%), 1-for-5 from 3, and made his only free throw. Not quite as impressive as the 19 points, six rebounds and 17 assists he logged in his previous game, a loss to the Cavs, but it was something, especially for Old Man Kobe as his body betrayed him.

Nine months later, Kobe is back, not at all gun-shy and he's up to his old tricks. Bryant logged 24 points, four rebounds and one assist in just under 29 minutes in a loss to the Timberwolves, hoisting 24 shots in that time and making eight, while shooting 3-for-13 from downtown.

That looks like a pretty ugly line, but it bears mention that he was 6-for-13 FG and 2-for-6 from 3 in the first half, struggling more down the stretch than all game long.

In the first half, he was a 55.6% TS guy, actually, but he really couldn't get it down in the second half. That's got to be legs and rust, in my mind.

In the first half of the game, Kobe was doing a better job of getting looks off dribble moves, in the post, moving without the ball, a little of everything. Yes, he took around half of his shots from behind the arc, but he was also 4-for-5 beneath it, and that dried up on him in the second half, during which he posted a line of 2-for-11 FG, 1-for-7 3P, 4-for-4 FT with an assist. In the third quarter, he took 3's on five of his six attempts. He hit one three and his lone two-pointer, a jumper from about ten feet. In the fourth, he flipped the script, shooting three shots beneath the arc and two beyond, but he missed on everything but the free throws he took that quarter.

Most of his threes were Kobe specials, a foot or two back of the line. Most good shooters will do that comfortably, of course, so that's not unusual, but he was cold from beyond the arc the whole night and it was a bit troublesome (if expected) that he was taking those kinds of shots, and shooting with THAT frequency, in this debut. In other words, Kobe is going to be Kobe, and he's going to go out this year the way he's always been. I imagine we will see improvement in his ability to make shots as the season wears on, of course.

Like Anthony Davis, the first game is not a full picture of his ability and jumpers have a high variance for pretty much all players, even the elite. We have, however, probably taken our first look at Kobe's rendition of 2002 Michael Jordan, that first year he was back from his second retirement. Then, as now, the player didn't have the legs to really generate a lot of shot volume around the rim, nor the quickness to draw loads of fouls, leaving him to rely on his jumper every night. Kobe's more practiced at shooting from three, though for him given the nature of his attempts and the volume he shoots, we can expect at best his customary 33-34% on those. If he's rocking 2-for-6 from three on the season, he's going to need to look a lot craftier and perform a lot better for this to be anything other than very much like Jordan's Wizards tenure: slightly embarrassing for everyone, with the occasional reminder of what once was back in the days of yore.

It should be interesting.

Even with Kobe's rust choking his performance down the stretch, the Lakers were a Lou Williams shot away from winning the game. As Kobe finds his legs in whatever form they will be this year, as he finds his mid-season form, the Lakers have a shot to be better than some might expect, and we'll see some vintage performances from Bryant when that jumper is on. We all know how brightly he burns when that J hits a streak. Even in his peak days, he didn't author his greatest performances with the drive, but with the jumper, particularly the three. Age won't much stop him from popping the three, so no one should fail to take Kobe seriously, because it just might be one of Those Nights for him.

Then we'll remember why the Lakers are going through this dance, why they brought him back even though he isn't the guy around whom to center a winning, contending team anymore. We'll all remember, if only for a while.