The Miami Heat will meet the Los Angeles Lakers tomorrow in Los Angeles in a Christmas Day NBA game between the surging Heat and the struggling Lakers. The game will be live streamed at 5:00 PM ET.

The Lakers and Heat play on Christmas for the fifth time in their franchises' history (three times when Shaquille O'Neal played for Miami and the other coming in 2010, in the first Christmas game since LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined the Heat).

Miami (21-6) enters Wednesday having won five games in a row and seven of their last eight. James is averaging 25.4 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.6 assists while shooting 59.9 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from 3-point range.

"He's playing at a very, very high level," D'Antoni said of James, who will be defended by Wes Johnson. "He gets better every year, which is scary. You try to give him his outside shot, now he's shooting 40 percent from 3s, but that's what you kind of want him to do. You don't want him to get to the rim. You don't want to foul him. If you can eliminate that, good luck, but you try to do that and you try to contain as much you can."

L.A. has performed well in a couple of marquee games this season, notably winning their opening night matchup against the Clippers, and also downing the Rockets on the road in their first reunion game with Dwight Howard.

Can they come up big again?

"We got to rise to the occasion," D'Antoni said. "That's another chance to try to do that."

Regardless of the lull the Lakers have found themselves in or the result of their game against the Heat, D'Antoni stayed bullish about his team.

"I'm proud because of the way their attitude and the way they approach each game," D'Antoni said. "They've gotten tired lately. Our energy has sagged because of guys logging heavy minutes. We just got to keep them up, keep them focused and keep them believing and see if we can get this done. And I think we can."