Knicks vs. Heat: How LeBron James Will Shut Down Jeremy Lin Tonight

One of the key matchups with tonight's game is the New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin. The Heat have struggled this season defending opposing point guards, giving up a league-worst, 22.0 points per game to opposing point guards. 

Derrick Rose scored 34 points on the Heat. Brandon Jennings scored 31. Chris Paul scored 27. Isaiah Thomas scored 24. Quick, penetrating point guards have been the weakness of the Miami Heat defense. 

If they don't contain Lin the Heat are going to have a hard time beating the Knicks tonight so how are they going to do that?

That's going to require help defense from LeBron James who was effective in being able to come over and help. This is something they were able to do effectively against the Chicago Bulls and Rose earlier this year. 

Rose only scored one field goal in the final three minutes against the Heat when James came over in help defense and that proved pivotal in determining the winner. 

One big difference exists between the Bulls and the Knicks though. While the Bulls didn't even have Luol Deng in this year game, the Knicks feature one of the best offensive players in the game in Carmelo Anthony. 

Leaving Anthony to help with Lin is just digging one hole to fill another. 

Therefore the Heat may need to rely heavily on Shane Battier late in the game to come in and play the small forward position and have LeBron James play the point. 

The Heat have only played Joel Anthony, Chris Bosh, Shane Battier, Dwyane Wade and James together for just over a minute this season but they may need to play it more tonight. 

The new look Knicks have a unique set of challenges, particularly if they run out J.R. Smith at the shooting guard. They can put five players on the court at the same time. Miami is fast, and adept at help defense, but if they leave players open, the Knicks will make them pay. 

James, arguably the best help defender in the game, will be the key to the Heat. It's possible his defense, more than his offense, will be the difference in this game.