The dreaded vote of confidence came earlier this week from Raptors General Manager Glen Grunwald. That only increased the speculation about Lenny Wilkens' coaching future in Toronto.

For Heat coach Pat Riley, the speculation has an impact on two fronts.

Foremost, Riley has been there this season, dealing with naysayers as his team plodded to a 5-23 start. Then there is the factor that if Wilkens leaves the sidelines, it would open a door for the NBA's all-time lead in coaching victories.

Riley brushed aside the criticism Wilkens has received from the Toronto media, with the major dailies there running fan polls about whether Wilkens should be fired.

"Go back and read my articles. That's all. Read all the things written about me. We all forget how to coach after a five-game losing streak," Riley said before Friday night's game against the slumping Raptors at AmericanAirlines Arena. "It doesn't make any difference how long you've been in the league. That's just the way it is.

"Lenny is above and beyond, one of the game's greatest coaches, survivors, and he'll find a way to get out of this."

Entering Friday's play, Wilkens stood at 1,255 victories, with Riley second on the all-time coaching list at 1,076.

"I don't even want to get into that," Riley said. "I'm living day to day here. It's going to be very hard for someone to catch."

Two weeks shy of his 57th birthday, Riley refused to be drawn into the long view.

"To be thinking about that would be at least thinking about five more years or six more years," Riley said, "and I don't even want to think about that."

ELLIS STILL OUT

Eligible to return to the active roster after tonight's game in Memphis, reserve forward LaPhonso Ellis is expected to miss additional time.

"He's going to be shelved for while," Riley said.

Listed with an adductor strain, Ellis said the groin problem had bothered him even before he was placed on the injured list four games ago.

"It's getting much better," he said. "I don't know when I'll be back."

RESTRICTED VIEWING

Riley has warned his players about scoreboard watching. "You start making plans to be somewhere else, and you think you're going to be somewhere else, and you get satisfied about thinking you're going to get there, then you're not taking care of the present moment," he said. "That's where you fall short sometimes." ...

The Heat's next home game, Tuesday against Phoenix, will be Dan Majerle's final game in South Florida. "When we go to New York, Milwaukee, places like that, those buildings I've played in for so many years, I definitely think about it being my last game there," the former Heat forward, who is retiring after this season, told the Arizona Republic. "I know it's happening, and I think about it a lot. I try to enjoy it."