MIAMI (AP) So Pat Riley bailed on them four days before the season. So they lost their first seven games. So they're still seven games below .500 more than two months later.

The Miami Heat shouldn't despair: They play in the Eastern Conference.

That makes their outlook much less dire. In fact, a victory Monday over Houston left the Heat trailing by half a game in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the weak East.

In the West, they would be six games out.

``We're very grateful,'' forward Caron Butler said. ``We never gave up, and good things are happening.''

Those good things include a lot of losing by the Heat's rivals in the Atlantic Division, where only New Jersey sports a winning record.

``We're blessed,'' Miami coach Stan Van Gundy said. ``The division is not real strong, let's be honest. A lot of teams are struggling.''

Until recently, that included the Heat. Now they have a three-game winning streak going into Wednesday's game at Cleveland. And rookie guard Dwyane Wade, often the Heat's best player this season, is on the verge of returning from a wrist injury that has sidelined him since Dec. 30.

The streak is especially encouraging for a team that was 5-15 in early December. Miami routed New Jersey on Friday, beat the Knicks in New York on Saturday, then defeated Houston on Monday.

The 11-point win over Houston was a measure of the Heat's progress. The last time the teams met, Miami lost by 20 to fall to 0-7.

``Stan has moved them forward a long way from the start of the year,'' Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. ``They have improved as much as anybody in the league.''

There might be a slight bias, considering the Van Gundys are brothers. Still, Jeff's assertion is supported by the Heat's 14 wins in the past 25 games.

``They've been passing the ball,'' Houston guard Steve Francis said. ``At first they were playing selfish basketball, but now they pass the ball to the open guy.''

Even so, the offense ranks next-to-last in the NBA in scoring, but Wade's return is sure to provide a boost. He was averaging 16.2 points per game and winning raves as one of the league's top rookies before getting hurt.

Free agent acquisitions Odom and Rafer Alston have also been welcome additions. The 6-foot-10 Odom appears on the verge of blossoming at age 24, with the kind of performance he had Monday _ 20 points, 15 rebounds _ becoming routine.

``I'd rather it be like that than when you have a good game and everybody's surprised,'' he said.

Point guard Alston, a New York City playground legend but an NBA journeyman, has helped sustain the Heat's tradition of strong defense. He's the primary reason Francis, Stephon Marbury and Jason Kidd shot a combined 8-for-39 against Miami in the past three games.

``Rafer keeps the ball in front of him,'' Van Gundy said. ``We don't have a lot of guys who do that real well.''

Van Gundy's droll humor has served the Heat well so far, as has his sense of the big picture.

``We're a struggling team,'' he said. ``I want to keep playing like a team that's seven games under .500. I don't want to start playing like a team that thinks we have it rolling.''