Our nightly look ahead to the schedule with a couple of notes and story lines so you can plan out your NBA viewing. All Times Eastern.
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7:00 New York Knicks @ Miami Heat (TNT)
I know you can do this with a lot of different things, but what if I told you at the beginning of this season that Miami would have to put LeBron James on Jeremy Lin to beat the Knicks in this game? They probably will at some point, which I’m sure will blow Lin’s mind. What I want to see is whether Lin can really handle facing these guys. It might seem like a silly question for a kid who had the sack to beat the defending NBA champs in Madison Square Garden… but this is a road game against a bigger, faster, stronger, more intimidating bunch. This will be interesting.
Couple of notes:
- Miami has won eight straight home games
- Eight of the nine Knicks wins in the “Jeremy Lin” era have come against teams currently at or below .500
9:30 LA Lakers @ Oklahoma City Thunder (TNT) 
I’m actually on the fence about featuring this game. It looks like a marquee matchup on paper, but the Lakers are on a back-to-back after a hard-fought win over Dallas. OKC is on a back-to-back too, but their game last night was a little easier and they’re quite a bit younger. Plus, they’ve got the trees to compete with the Lakers’ length.
Still, it’ll be interesting to see just where the Lakers are, despite my suspicions that this game won’t be very close.
Couple of notes:
- OKC is 14-2 at home, and they’ve won 11 straight at Chesapeake Energy Arena
- Prior to last night, Kobe Bryant had averaged 32 points on 50.7% shooting over the a three-game stretch
Other story lines for tonight
7:30 Orlando-Atlanta: Can Atlanta keep up its recent stretch of success against Orlando without Joe Johnson and Al Horford
9:00 San Antonio-Denver: Will Gregg Popovich play his full squad as the Spurs finish up their rodeo road trip?
