Looking ahead in the NBA this week

MIAMI AT LAKERS: Saturday at 2 p.m. PST. TV: ABC.

Good thing I mentioned it or you might have missed it, if you blasted into space or whatever it takes to get away from ESPN. There hasn’t been such hype since Shaquille O’Neal’s return as a member of the Heat on Christmas 2004, with the Lakers 14-11 — en route to 34-48 — so he and Kobe Bryant could hate on each other as a Yuletide treat. Showing how far the NBA has come, there’s actual basketball to hype. This matchup is looking better with Andrew Bynum back and Miami stomping on 11 opponents in a row. The Heat still figures to have problems with big elite teams like Boston and the Lakers. The Lakers don’t even know what their problems are, not having played any of the NBA’s top six teams, but it hasn’t been a duckwalk.