The Heat tonight gets an extensive look at the NBA's most significant offseason rules change: legalization of the zone defense.

While most teams -- including the Heat -- haven't played much or any zone, the Minnesota Timberwolves have used the strategy in large doses. Miami worked on its ``zone offense'' for an hour Monday.

``I'm expecting to see [zone defense] a lot [tonight],'' Heat coach Pat Riley said. ``They have a great matchup zone. You've got to take the best shot you get. If you pass it up, you might not get it again.''

Minnesota's front line of 6-11 Kevin Garnett, 6-10 Joe Smith and 7-0 Rasho Nesterovic has helped limit opponents to 42 percent shooting.

``Minnesota does it the best I've seen, by far,'' New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said of the zone defense. ``It's the teaching and their length. It's a primary defense for them.''

The Timberwolves' zone bothered the Heat in Minnesota's 91-84 preseason win.

``I don't think [the Timberwolves] have great individual defensive guys, so that's why they do it,'' Heat guard Eddie Jones said. ``They're really long, so they can cover a lot of ground on the perimeter.''