TORONTO - With recent history heavily favouring the visiting team, the Raptors (6-8) will welcome the Miami Heat (12-3) back to the Air Canada Centre tonight in the hopes of knocking off the defending champions for the first time in nearly four years. Philadelphia 76ers Gear . Dont miss a single shot, live on TSN beginning at 7pm et/4pm pt. Winners of their last eight games, the Heat return to Toronto for the second time in the month of November. After beginning the season 4-3, allowing 100.9 points on 47 per cent shooting, Miamis resurgent defence has vaulted them back to the top of a weak Eastern Conference. Teams are scoring just 91.9 points, shooting 42 per cent against the Heat during their streak. "Its significant in the fact that youre playing against the championship team," Dwane Casey said of a match-up with the Heat, who have won their last 12 meetings with the Raptors - including six straight in Toronto - most recently a 104-95 victory on Nov. 5. "You can measure yourself a little bit, see where you are as a player, see where you are as a team but its not going to define our season, win or lose." The Raptors havent defeated Miami since Jan. 27, 2010, the winter before LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade in Miami. Although each of their scoring averages are down from a year ago, all three of the Heats all-stars are shooting above 50 per cent this season. Toronto nearly clawed back from a 15-point deficit in the final three minutes of Tuesdays contest at home to the struggling Nets. Instead, a missed Amir Johnson three-point attempt at the buzzer sealed the teams disappointing 102-100 loss. "We take two steps forward and we take a half a step back," Casey said, his team allowing Brooklyn to shoot 51 per cent Tuesday. "Thats the mark of a young team, trying to find themselves. But you can say that about a lot of teams in the league." "Its a trend in the NBA, period," he continued. "Theres probably three-to-four teams that can say, this is who we are and [are] playing that way. Theres a lot of teams, for whatever reason and specifically in the Eastern Conference, that are trying to find who they are and what they want to be." One month into the season, the Heat are one of only two Eastern Conference teams with a record above .500 and one of four teams - including the Raptors - with a positive point differential. "I dont think anybody really saw it coming," Chris Bosh said of the weak conference. "A lot of teams have struggled early. Its down a little bit but its a long season, Im sure a lot of teams will turn their fate around and start playing better basketball." Bosh is averaging 19.6 points in seven career games against the Raptors, his former team. He didnt play in the first meeting this season following the birth of his daughter. Trends and Tidbits DeMar DeRozan has led the Raptors in scoring in four of the last five games. Averaging 28.6 points in those contests, the Raptors guard leads in the NBA in scoring since Nov. 5. DeRozan is shooting 52 per cent from the field and 13-of-25 beyond the arch over that stretch. He has hit three or more treys in three of the last five games, a feat he has accomplished six times in the last 17 contests - dating back to last season - after doing so just twice in the first 311 games of his career. Kyle Lowry has led the Raptors in assists in each of the last six contests. He has recorded 49 assists with just 10 turnovers during that stretch. The Raptors can finish with seven wins in October/November for the first time since 2009 with a victory on Friday. What to Watch For Defending home court With perhaps their most complete efforts coming on the road - in Memphis and Philadelphia - the Raptors have struggled to maintain their focus on home court this season. They have an identical record at home (3-4) as they do away from Toronto and they have lost three of their last four at the ACC. "Our focus is not where it needs to be at home," Casey admitted after practice on Thursday. "Its hard to say [why]. I think its easy and kind of human nature to relax at home a little bit, thinking home is going to take care of you but the main thing is, you need to take care of home." Taking care of the ball The Raptors trailed by just four points after three quarters in the previous meeting with Miami before nine fourth-quarter turnovers - they had six in the first 36 minutes - ignited the Heat, who began to pull away. "We didnt take care of the ball," Casey said of that game. "They fuel their offence off of turnovers and that was our Achilles heel against this team the last time we played them." "You should be on high alert the entire time," he continued. "I think teams get fired up to play them, you lose a little focus whether they turn it up or not. I wouldnt say they take possessions off but they know when to turn it on and off and thats a characteristic of a good team. They know what possessions are important and what possessions arent important and believe me, theyre dialled in when they need to be dialled in." Who to Watch For Rudy Gay Immediately after Tuesdays loss to Brooklyn, a game in which he shot 3-of-12 and deferred to Johnson on the deciding possession, Gay went up to the teams practice facility where he spent the evening shooting. "The only thing I could do after that game was just go in and shoot some jump shots, get it off my head and also work on my game," said Gay, who is averaging just 14.7 points on 34 per cent shooting in his last three games. Although the Raptors forward generally gets up for match-ups opposite top tiered wing players and played well against James and the Heat last season, he struggled in defeat earlier this month. Gay was just 3-for-10, scoring 13 points and registered four turnovers - he leads the team with 48 total - in the Nov. 5 loss to Miami. "Ive never questioned Rudys commitment, not at all," Casey said. "Is he shooting the ball the way he wants to? No. But thats what he has to do, is work at that pace. Ive mentioned it to him, youve got to shoot at that fourth-quarter tempo when you work on your game at night time. Youve got to shoot it like its the game winning shot." LeBron James James has been dominant in every facet of the game during Miamis winning streak. Over the last eight games, the four-time MVP is averaging 27.6 points, connecting on 61 per cent of his field goals. Guarded primarily by Gay, James tallied 35 points, eight rebounds and eight assists against the Raptors earlier in November. "We know what LeBron likes to do," Johnson said. "The focal point is going to be on him. We might throw different looks at him, double teams." Injury Report Raptors forward Quincy Acy will be a game-time decision with a sprained right ankle that has kept him out of the last three contests. Mike Scott Jersey .ca. In Sundays Blackhawks-Penguins game, Pittsburgh defenceman Brooks Orpik laid a huge hit on Chicagos Jonathan Toews. Now in my view, Orpik can be clearly seen leaving his feet while delivering a moderately high hit. Clarence Weatherspoon Jersey . Yup, he definitely needed this one. Craig homered twice and had three RBIs Wednesday night to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Craig went 4 for 5 and Yadier Molina added three hits for the Cardinals, who salvaged the final game of a three-game set in hopes of staying within shouting distance of front-running Milwaukee in the NL Central. https://www.cheap76ers.com/696e-spencer-hawes-jersey-76ers.html . The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made. By releasing Bailey, the Broncos would open up cap space with the 12-time Pro Bowl player scheduled to make around $10 million next season. DALLAS -- The way the New Jersey Devils defence played on Thursday night, they didnt need much offence. What they did need, the Devils got from Patrik Elias. Elias scored a power-play goal 40 seconds into overtime to give the New Jersey Devils a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars. "It always comes back to bite you when you play that poorly and take a penalty," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. New Jersey allowed only 16 shots and scored twice on the power play. "Huge, two power-play goals," New Jersey coach Peter DeBoer said. "It probably didnt need to get to overtime if we could have buried some of our chances, but we did on the power play and that was critical." The Stars tied the score on Tyler Seguins goal with 52 seconds remaining in regulation play. Dainius Zubrus scored in the first period and Travis Zajac added a goal in the second to give New Jersey a 2-0 lead. Jamie Benn scored on a backhand at 10:52 of the second to cut the deficit to 2-1. The Devils, allowing the fewest shots per game of any NHL team, held Dallas to its season low. Cory Schneider made 14 saves for his second victory over the Stars this season. Elias and Zajac each had an assist and Jaromir Jagr assisted on two goals for New Jersey. Seguin added an assist for Dallas. Kari Lehtonen made 21 saves. He has allowed only six goals in losing three of his last four games against New Jersey The Devils dominated early. Dallas didnt put a shot on goal until a 5-on-3 advantage more than five minutes in. Even during that 75-second stretch, the Stars had only one shot. "Im embarrassed myself with that," Seguin said. "Thats unacceptable." Ruff said: "It was just a killer." DeBoer called the 5-on-3 penalty kill "huge." "t;It would have been easy there to lose our focus. Philadelphia 76ers Pro Shop. We didnt. We buckled down. To get out of the first period up was key." New Jersey scored first, at 10:59 of the first period. Zubrus sent a slap shot from the right faceoff circle over Lehtonens glove and into the right corner. Dallas had its best scoring chance a minute and a half before the end of the first period. Cody Eakin took a pass in the slot but shot the puck into Schneiders body. For the period, New Jersey outshot the Stars 7-4. The four shots tied Dallas season low for a period. Lehtonen prevented another Devils goal three minutes into the second period when he made a glove save on Zajac while prone on the ice. Zajac did score on a power play at 9:50 of the second, when he tipped Damien Brunners drive past Lehtonen. Barely a minute later, Dallas broke through for its first goal against Schneider in more than 90 minutes this season. Benn took a pass from Seguin with his back to the goal and backhanded the puck into the net. New Jersey again had an advantage in shots, 7-6, with the Devils final two shots short-handed NOTES: Schneider has the only shutout against Dallas this season, with 26 saves in a 1-0 victory Jan. 9. . The Devils season low in shots allowed for a game is 15 ... In the Stars previous seven games they averaged 33 shots on goal ... Dallas fewest shots in a game this season had been 18 in a 4-3 victory at Chicago Dec. 3. ... New Jersey won both games between the teams this season ... The Stars streak of scoring a power-play goal in eight consecutive games ended ... Play was stopped during the third period because a panel of glass broke above the boards ... Dallas recalled C Dustin Jeffrey from Texas of the American Hockey League Thursday, but he was inactive for the game. ' ' '