For a change, the Heat tonight will meet up with a former player who is not going to criticize Pat Riley.

While Tim Hardaway, Anthony Mason, Jamal Mashburn, Voshon Lenard and Ricky Davis have all expressed some level of anger over Riley's words or actions, Phoenix swingman Dan Majerle expresses only admiration for his former coach.

``I've said straight out, I love Riles,'' said Majerle, whose Suns play the Heat tonight in Phoenix. ``He's a hard guy to play for, but it was a great experience.''

After Majerle praised Riley earlier this season, Mason said, ``Majerle shouldn't lie and say everything was positive. Majerle's a fence-walker. He doesn't want to burn any bridges. He's going to buy into any concept.''

Majerle's response? ``Mase isn't happy unless he's unhappy.''

Majerle, 36, says he likely will retire after this season. ``This is probably it. It's getting harder and harder'' physically to compete in the NBA.

Majerle, who averaged 7.3 points over five seasons and 278 games in Miami, took the $1 million veteran's minimum from Phoenix rather than waiting for an offer from Miami.

``It was an easy decision,'' he said. ``The Heat never made a commitment to me, and I knew they were trying to go in another direction. It was no secret I wanted to go back to Phoenix to play and retire.''

Riley on Friday raved about Majerle: ``He was absolutely the best. If they all had the approach of Dan, this would be a great league. He's a guy of character. I had confidence knowing night in and night out, he was [someone] I could absolutely depend on. He had a strong will, an incredible purpose to win and an invincible determination. Keith Askins had the same qualities, and a lot of people don't have them.

``Dan and [Spurs forward] Bruce Bowen would go 1 for 13, and people would be screaming, `Get them out of there!' And I would say, `No.' They're doing 90 percent of all the other things that make us win.''

Riley laughed about Majerle's remark that playing for him is a grind: ``He was a guy you could grind,'' Riley said.

Majerle is shocked by the Heat's poor start: ``I'm always surprised when a Pat Riley team has a losing record. They practice hard enough and play hard enough that they are successful.''

Majerle, who comes off the bench for Phoenix, has struggled offensively, averaging 4.3 points on 33 percent shooting (30 for 91). Coach Scott Skiles benched him for the third time this season in Thursday's loss to Memphis.

Although Skiles says Majerle is ``tough as hell,'' much of the rest of the team is perceived as soft. The Suns have lost five straight to drop to 18-18.

After a loss in December, Skiles asked his players, ``Am I the problem?'' They didn't say yes, but some players believe he's too critical.

``It's obvious in a lot of games we're not playing with the effort level that's going to win in the NBA,'' Skiles said. ``The coach has to be held accountable.''

Suns Owner Jerry Colangelo said it's ``not productive'' for Skiles to blame himself. ``He, too, needs to be patient,'' Colangelo said. ``Obviously, he's putting a lot of blame on himself. I would say we've underachieved.''

During this losing streak, the Suns have lost by six to Memphis, 14 to Utah, six to Sacramento, 32 to the Lakers and 21 to Philadelphia.

``It's very disappointing,'' said Penny Hardaway, who's shooting 40 percent. ``None of us expected this.''

Center Jake Tsakalidis hasn't developed, and injuries have again sidelined forward Tom Gugliotta, whose skills have eroded.