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The marquee reads Bryant vs. James. Reality paints a different picture. Kobe and LBJ may be the two best players on God's green, but with Ron Artest in purple and gold, the pair are likely to spend only minimal time actually versus-ing each other. However, there are key matchups o'plenty between the rest of the participants, any one of which could tip the game.

Here are five to watch:

1) Shaquille O’Neal vs. Andrew Bynum: Shaq is 38 years old and a shell (shell-adjacent at best) of his former Diesel self. Or even the Diesel that PER-ed his way to a 22.3 rating last year in Phoenix (through Wednesday, it was 15.2). He’s struggled to fit in with the Cavs on both sides of the floor. Via 82Games.com, Cavs are 9.4 points worse with Shaq on the floor. That doesn't mean O'Neal doesn't have value. In some ways, he's the NBA version now of a lefty sinkerball specialist, one of those guys who plays until the age of 47 throwing 14 innings a year, all in thirds. Shaq wasn't brought in to beat the Indiana's and Toronto's of the world, but for specific situations- to limit Dwight Howard in Orlando and to counteract LA's size in the paint.

For Bynum, it’s a high profile (to say the least) chance to apply the ol’ shock paddles to a flagging December, revive an All-Star bid, and silence some critical voices... at least until tomorrow's game in Sacramento. We should know early how things will play out. Bynum told me after Tuesday's win he feels a game's first six minutes are crucial for him to find his rhythm and energy. I anticipate a lot of early contact and aggressive offensive play as both pivots jostle for advantage (and to create early foul trouble for the other).

Bottom line, O’Neal was effective against Howard last month, but if Bynum beats him up here, it’ll cast more doubt on Danny Ferry’s master plan.

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By now, most Christmas gifts are safely packed in the sleigh, Santa having received his requests and acted accordingly. But for some girls and boys, they can't find out if ol' Kris Kringle will truly deliver their goodies until the Lakers and Cavs tip off Christmas Day. A well placed elf from the workshop's Department of Correspondence, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to comment on such matters, says this year his office was flooded with roundball related pleas.

"HQ was busting with letters, quite frankly," he said. "The outcome of Friday's game could very well depend on which of these rugrats was naughty or nice."

The following is a sampling of letters sent to Santa regarding the game.

(Note: ESPN North Pole contributed to this report)

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Because you can never look at a game from too many angles, I tracked down some insight from Cavs Blog scribe John Krolik of the True Hoop network. Kid's still in college and something of a genius, and BK and I like to think we discovered him back in the day when we were running a now-defunct local sports site. We really didn't, but it's a great story that makes us come off like seers. Anyway, I threw five questions his way regarding the Cavs and the holiday matchup. Give what he's saying a whirl and see what you think.

1) You were on record as critical of the Shaq deal when it happened, if memory serves. As we speak, how do you think Shaq's fitting in? Has Mike Brown discovered more ways of using him or do you picture his minutes/ production continuing to drop and Brown mixing and matching front court lineup?

John Krolik: I'm not sure if my initial reaction to the Shaq deal could be called "critical," but I'd say I was skeptical from the beginning of how he'd fit in with the existing pieces on the team, especially Anderson Varejao and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Since the Cavs gave up almost nothing for him (or so it appeared at the time, as most assumed Ben Wallace would never come all the way back from the injury he sustained mid-season), and had the core of a 66-win team still intact, my assumption was that Shaq was a guy who could potentially make the team better and be safely discarded if he didn't work out. You can judge for yourself what my reactions were to Shaq before the season (why pretend I have secrets?), but here's me being (I think) cautiously optimistic about the acquisition when it happened and cautiously pessimistic about the prospect of Shaq starting about a month later.

(AK's note: After reading John's original thoughts on the Shaq trade, he's right, not nearly as pessimistic as I recall. I guess I was mixing up Krolik with someone different who thought that deal didn't really help short or long-term. Me.)

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