The Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets are set to face off in what shapes as one of the NBA's most intriguing first round NBA playoff match-ups beginning Sunday, April 17, 2016 at America Airlines Arena.

And Hornets' do-everything veteran swing-man Jeremy Lin figures to settle right in the middle of it all.

All season long, the only Chinese or Taiwanese player to grace the NBA hardwood has been a wildcard for the overachieving Hornets. The veteran guard averaged 12 points, three rebounds and three assists for Charlotte this season.

"Linsanity" run Still the Talk of Town

While those numbers don't quite match up with those he posted during his 2012 min-run with the Knicks when a five game stretch of at least 20 points and seven assists led to birth of "Linsanity," the Hornets have clearly come to count on his steady contributions.

They will need him to be at his absolute best against the Heat, who boast a veteran core of Dwyane Wade, Goran Dragic, Joe Johnson and Luol Deng to go with emerging big man Hassan Whiteside.

"I don't read any articles, the 27-year-old Harvard grad recently told reporters of how he stays so even keel in the midst of a red hot NBA career where he has seen more than his share of ups and downs.

Lin Shuts out all the Noise

"I don't read any Twitter comments, Instagram, Facebook, anything related to me, because I don't want to be influenced by what everybody else says or thinks," he added.

Through it all, Lin hints there are times when he wishes he could be seen as just another basketball player, have all the racial components of who he is and what he does laid to rest once and for all.

"Pretty much anything that I do, someone will talk about race," he said.

But talk of all that will have to wait for another day. Right now, Jeremy Lin has the Miami Heat on the brain and the task of trying to keep the Hall of Fame bound Wade under wraps.

"We have a high ceiling," he says of the Hornets. "That doesn't mean we're always playing near that, but we have a high ceiling and that makes it where you never know what can happen. That's exciting to me. We're an underdog. We've been an underdog all season. I've been an underdog all my life. So I like being in this position."

Eastern Conference Round 1 Miami Heat vs. Charlote Hornets Schedule

Charlotte at Miami, April 17, 5:30 p.m. (ET)

Charlotte at Miami, April 20, 7 p.m. (ET)

Miami at Charlotte, April 23, 5:30 p.m. (ET)

Miami at Charlotte, April 25, TBA

Charlotte at Miami, April 27, TBA

Miami at Charlotte, April 29, TBA

Charlotte at Miami, May 1, TBA

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