Two teams striving to improve on their early-season mediocrity clash Wednesday night when the Miami Heat visit the Toronto Raptors.
Miami stands seventh in the Eastern Conference after 20 games.
The Raptors sit 11th in the East after 20 games under first-year coach Darko Rajakovic.
There are reasons to believe the Heat can improve as players return from injury and they play more games at home, where they are 5-3. They are 6-6 in road games.
They have played 12 games without Tyler Herro (ankle), who was averaging 22.9 points. He could be out for another week.
Bam Adebayo (hip contusion), averaging 22.3 points per game, did not play Saturday and is not expected to play Wednesday.
Butler has missed four games this season and Caleb Martin missed the first 10 games.
The Raptors are 6-5 at home and have split the first two games of their three-game homestand.
The Raptors have yet to win three games in a row. When they do finally have a three-game win streak, Rajakovic said that he will pay for a team dinner.
The Raptors are still trying to establish their identity.
