LAL @ MIA - 2:30 pm - ABC <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>With Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant having made peace, the hype for another Christmas Day game between the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers has died down. The luster is diminished further with O'Neal missing altogether.The storyline now shifts to Bryant matching up against the player who may be supplanting him as the league's top backcourt talent when Dwyane Wade and the Heat meet the Lakers on this holiday for a third straight year."Kobe makes you step your game up, step your leadership up," Wade said, "because you know he's going to do the same. But it's not a 1-on-1 matchup. It's not about that, at the end of the day."Bryant and O'Neal seemed to be feuding ever since parting ways after leading the Lakers to three straight titles from 2000-02. That fueled a budding Heat-Lakers rivalry, prompting the league to schedule one meeting on Christmas for a nationally televised audience each of the past two seasons.</div><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Bryant has averaged 33.8 points to Wade's 23.6 in five head-to-head meetings, but the Heat have won three of them.Wade is averaging career highs of 28.1 points -- fourth-best in the league -- and 8.0 assists as he's tried to help the Heat (12-14) overcome O'Neal's absence. Miami is 8-3 this season when Wade scores at least 30 points, but 4-11 when he doesn't.Bryant is down to 27.8 points per game after leading the league last season at 35.4, but a better balance on offense has proven successful for the Lakers. After being around .500 for much of 2005-06, the Lakers have been well above that for most of this season and are only 2 1/2 games behind San Antonio for the league's best record."The challenge I have is to make teams see that I can just be as big a threat passing the ball," said Bryant, averaging 5.2 assists this season.The Lakers are 11-4 when Bryant is held below 25 points, including 3-0 in games he's missed. They are 9-2 when he has at least six assists. That record includes Los Angeles' most recent game, a 99-95 victory in New Jersey on Friday as Bryant had a season-high 11 assists to go with his 21 points.The Lakers improved to 2-1 on their six-game road trip, which also includes stops this week at Orlando and Charlotte.The Heat have won three of four overall, including a 105-92 victory over Golden State on Saturday as Jason Kapono came off the bench to score a career-high 27 points.</div>
