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The Oklahoma City Thunder have had a nice little rest the past few days. They had their 12-game winning streak snapped last Thursday in Minnesota vs. the Timberwolves and won’t play again until Christmas Day in Miami vs. the Heat.

The NBA Finals rematch with the Heat tomorrow will be the biggest game of the year so far for the Thunder. OKC has the best record in the league so far but no one will care about that if they lose tomorrow and look like they still aren’t capable of matching up with Miami in a series.

The game in Miami will tip at 5:30 p.m. EST and will be televised nationally on ABC.

The next game up for the Thunder will be at home two days later against the Dallas Mavericks. That game will also be nationally televised on TNT at 8 p.m. EST.

The Mavericks have been up and down this season but surprisingly saw the return of Dirk Nowitzki last night. O.J. Mayo is one of the early candidates for Most Improved Player this season and they are a team very capable of playing the Thunder close.

The final game of the week for the Thunder will be on the road vs. the Houston Rockets. This is the second time the Thunder will play against James Harden this season. In the first meeting, OKC cruised to a 120-98 win at home vs. the Rockets while holding Harden to 3-of-16 shooting from the field.

When you are a team as talented as the Thunder, you never expect to lose games. It may be a blessing in disguise that the Thunder are looking to start a new winning streak rather than win their 14th in a row when they take on Miami tomorrow.

The Heat are playing very well this season in their own right currently sitting atop the Eastern Conference standings. LeBron James is again one of the frontrunners for the MVP and we will see if the Thunder look more improved to contain him this year.

Miami was playing a lot of small lineups earlier in the season but recently have used bigger ones. It was the small lineup that crushed the Thunder in the Finals so it will be interesting to see if they go back to that look tomorrow.

Whether or not the Thunder beat Miami, at home vs. Dallas then on the road vs. Houston are two games the Thunder should definitely win.

The Thunder swept a better Dallas team than this one in the first round of the playoffs last season and Houston showed in its first meeting with the Thunder this year that they simply cannot hang.

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The Oklahoma City Thunder are the hottest team in basketball right now winners of their last 10 games and sitting with the best record in the NBA at 19-4.

The Thunder’s 5-game home stand will end tonight as they will take on the San Antonio Spurs who are 19-6 on the year and just a game behind the Thunder in the Western Conference Standings.

The Thunder played just two games last week beating New Orleans 92-88 at home on Wednesday and then taking down the Sacramento Kings 113-103 at home Friday.

This week, the Thunder will play three games with the Spurs tonight at home then on the road vs. Atlanta Wednesday and Minnesota on Thursday.

Two of the Thunder’s four losses this season came at the hands of opponents they will face this week. The Thunder lost to the Spurs in San Antonio in their first game of the season 86-84 on Nov. 1. The Thunder were then shocked at home by the Hawks three days later 104-95.

The Thunder and Timberwolves gave the NBA one of the best games of the year a season ago back on March 23 when the Thunder beat Minnesota 149-140 in double overtime.

Kevin Love scored a career-high 51 points in that game and Russell Westbrook scored a career-high 45 points. Kevin Durant had 40 points and 17 rebounds.

This meeting between the Thunder and Timberwolves will be nationally televised on TNT at 7 p.m. Thursday night.

It’s hard to win 10 games in a row and it’s harder to keep winning. The Thunder will be faced with a tough schedule this week to keep their winning streak going.

Tonight won’t feel like trying to win their 11th straight game though. It means something more to the Thunder after losing to San Antonio on opening night. They will be up for the game as much as any game this year.

The same can really be said for the Hawks game as the Thunder will want to avenge that loss from earlier this year.

The Minnesota game will be tough since it will be a road back-to-back. But since it will be on national television we can expect again a big performance from the Thunder. The Timberwolves just got Ricky Rubio back this season and Love may be back as well although he is currently nursing a bruised thumb.

When you look closely at the matchups, while tough ones, 13 in a row seems like a real possibility for this Oklahoma City Thunder team.