Heat coach Pat Riley spent much of his post-game news conference Sunday night raving about the play of Eddie Jones, Alonzo Mourning and Rod Strickland after Miami won its third game in a row.

And yet, what Riley said he was most proud of is the team's rebounding improvement. That's probably because just four games ago the Heat were outrebounded 41-30 by Detroit, one of the league's worst rebounding teams.

But since the Heat have had a decided edge in rebounds against Indianapolis (46-34), Boston (54-38) and one of the most aggressive rebounding teams, the Golden State Warriors (54-39).

"It's a combination of what we're doing on offense for our big guys and also from a defensive standpoint from some of the schemes that we were using," Riley said. "And they're winning the push-shove game right now really well. Were winning the effort points now where we used to lose. Second-chance points, and fast-break points, things of that nature so we're winning that category the last three games."

For the season Miami is being outrebounded 43-41.5 a game. While Brian Grant still is providing inconsistent performances, Miami's best rebounder, Mourning, has improved his overall play, including rebounds. In the past five games, Mourning is averaging 10.2 rebounds a game, better than his 8.4 season average.

Heat guards are getting into the rebounding act as well. Jones will always grab five or six boards a game, but Strickland has averaged eight rebounds in the past three games, taking some of the pressure off the big men to box out and rebound.

"Our big men are blocking out, that means we have to cover for them," said Jim Jackson, who is averaging 5.6 rebounds a game. "It's total team effort. I want to help our big men as much as possible because they help us on the drives. We got to get in there and get those loose rebounds, those long rebounds, the ones they don't get."

? Shoot out: One of the consequences of Strickland's recent success should be a more effective Heat team against zone defenses.

The New Jersey Nets, Miami's opponent tonight, employ a zone defense at times and often use point guard Jason Kidd as a roaming defender. That was successful in the Nets' 95-86 win in Miami as Strickland and Anthony Carter were forced to take 12 shots combined while Mourning took just six.

"We're used to that defense," Riley said. "Rod's starting to make shots, drive the ball. We know how teams defend our post up game. They run the point guard pretty much free, so we're starting to understand that."

While Strickland has improved his shooting of late, he said Monday, only half seriously, that he hasn't hit a jump shot against the zone all season. If he can hit shots against New Jersey this time, that would force the Nets to play less zone.

"We're a different team when he's hitting that shot, by far," Mourning said. "It just opens it up whole lot more. When you got the big guys stepping in clearing out space in the middle, and you got him hitting that shot it just adds so much more to our offense and prevents teams from sagging back into our laps."

? Jones honored: After averaging 24.7 points, 5.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds and leading Miami to a 3-0 record, Jones was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

It's the first time in his career Jones has received the award and the 11th time a Heat player has been honored. The last Heat player to receive the award was Mourning on April 10, 2000.

? Carter update: Carter practiced with the team for the first time since straining his abdomen and being placed on the injured list. Carter, though, will not be activated for the game and did not travel to New Jersey with the team.