Amare Stoudemire (photo. Mannion)

Three matchups to watch for tonight’s three-game schedule…

Phoenix @ New Jersey: Shaq & Amare vs. Lawrence Frank
With Josh Boone, Yi Jianlian, Brook Lopez and Ryan Anderson at his disposal, Frank is bringing four knives to a gunfight. (He could have a potentially helpful fifth blade, but Sean Williams has fallen out of the Nets’ rotation.) Without the kind of talent to play it straight-up, how will Frank strategize to neutralize the Suns’ big-man combo? Going super-up-tempo and/or maximizing your fouls can work against Shaq, but what about Amare?

Boston @ Houston: KG vs. Yao
For the first three quarters, Kendrick Perkins will likely draw the assignment of guarding Yao. But in the fourth — perhaps earlier if Boston needs it — KG will take over. When the two teams met in Boston last year, Yao (19 pts, 13 rebs) forced Perkins and Scot Pollard into fouling out before Garnett got involved and dominated Yao down the stretch in a Celtics win, holding him to two points and one rebound the rest of the way while giving Yao a faceful of buckets on the other end.

Dallas @ San Antonio: Dirk Nowitzki vs. Bruce Bowen & Ime Udoka
Twenty-four hours after getting shut down (8 pts) by the Cavs, Dirk’s week doesn’t get any easier with the Spurs’ lock-down specialists on the schedule. Although Bowen is looking like he’s on that midnight train to Washed-Up Land — zero points this season, plus Nic Batum was giving him buckets for a minute in last Friday’s loss to Portland — he’s still better than most defenders at his position, and Udoka is essentially a younger, stronger (thought not as nasty) version of Bowen.

Related posts:

1. Amare Stoudemire Feels Disrespected Like Tupac
2. Dwight Howard Is Still Leading All-Star Voting
3. NBA Match Game, 12.22