Heat coach Pat Riley long ago expressed his displeasure with the NBA's decision to allow zone defenses, but Thursday he made sure there was no misunderstanding.

``I think it was the biggest mistake ever to allow a zone,'' Riley said before taking on the Hawks in Atlanta. ``When you allow people to just stand in areas in this game and bring great players to a stop and have to attack zones with jump shots, I think you're taking away a lot. I do believe that will probably be addressed during the offseason.''

When the league did away with illegal defenses this season the intention was to create more offense and excitement. Riley said what has actually transpired is the opposite. Teams are scoring more, but they're also exchanging more jump shots than anything else -- not exactly scintillating stuff.

``I watched the game [Wednesday] night where a zone was played against New Jersey for three-quarters of the game and it took one of the great movement teams and absolutely brought them to a standstill,'' Riley said of the Cleveland-New Jersey contest. ``As much as they wanted more movement, they wanted more offense, what they've done is sort of done what they've always done: backed right up and allowed a zone defense. You're starting to see the impact of straight zones and gimmick defenses that really congest the lane.''

The Heat has shown little interest in using the zone this season.

LONG-RANGE MISSES

The Heat has been among the NBA's top three-point shooting teams in recent seasons, but this year the three-pointers are not falling.

Last season, with Dan Majerle and Tim Hardaway leading the way, the Heat made 5.8 three-pointers per game. This season, with 89 threes entering Thursday night's game, the Heat is averaging 3.6.

``With the exception of Eddie [Jones] and Mike [James] and Jimmy [Jackson], we don't stretch it that far,'' Riley said. ``We don't have the number of guys that can get out there 25 feet and let it go. We're not a great perimeter shooting team.''