Kendall Gill has a proposed remedy for what ails the Heat offense.

"Somebody needs to do something like a 360-dunk on the break just to loosen everybody up," the Heat swingman said. "I think we're just too tight. We're playing like robots."

The mechanical style never was more evident than in Miami's overtime loss to Cleveland on Friday. The Heat shot 35 percent because players turned down good shots and ended up with desperate ones. Miami has shot 41.9 percent for the season entering this afternoon's game against Toronto.

While the Heat have had the a few games where the defense was suspect and a couple of high-turnover games, the one constant throughout the 5-19 season has been the poor shooting percentage. And now it's reached the point where players are afraid to put up good shots. The reason?

"Losing breeds tentativeness," Gill said.

Heat coach Pat Riley believes that shouldn't be the case.

"They shouldn't be because they're professionals," Riley said. "They've been in this situation enough. I think they're tentative because it's natural. They're a little bit desperate. Everybody wants to win. They're trying to make the right play. They're passing up some open shots. They're passing up some open men because they're just trying to run offense at times."

Part of the problem could be a fundamental disagreement between player and coach on just what is a good shot. Is every open shot a good shot, even if it's early in the shot clock?

"It depends on if it's a forced shot," Jim Jackson said. "If you come down and a man drops in the lane and you're standing wide open with a 15-foot jump shot, I think you take that shot."

Some players are concerned with being reprimanded for taking a bad shot. But Riley said, at this point, there should be no reason for concern.

"I'm not getting on them about bad shots," Riley said. "I'm telling them to shoot the ball. Normally I'd be the other way."

Riley is confident his team has the ability to make the shots that come out of the offense. And given the way his team has been shooting lately (32 percent in the last two games) Riley has been stressing shooting in practice.

"We work on it every day," Riley said. "Kendall's taking 1,000 shots a day. We worked early this morning on intense shooting drills. I think guys just have to step up and take their shot."

And if they still miss, Gill has yet another solution.

"I have a motto," Gill said. "When you're on, shoot, and when you're off, shoot until you're on."