His team still reeling from one of the worst losses of this horrific season, Heat coach Pat Riley said Sunday he is not likely to make a significant trade, and he has not given up hope Miami can make something of this campaign.

So what does Riley intend to do about the 8-26 Heat, which visits the Golden State Warriors tonight after a humiliating 108-74 loss at Phoenix on Saturday? The answer is the same as it has been all season: continue imploring Miami's underachieving players to give more.

In short, Riley intends to stick with a plan that, thus far, is not working.

``We have 40-something games. There's more than enough time,'' Riley said following an afternoon practice at the University of San Francisco. ``If in fact you ever get to that point where it's not going to work, I would say [that at] the trading deadline. . . . The problem is energy and making shots. A lot of times when you don't bring energy, you're not going to be taking good shots. You're going to be taking bad shots and make bad decisions.''

Making a mid-level trade or signing any remaining free agents will not improve the situation, Riley said, because he believes the problem is not the personnel.

``First of all, there's nobody out there right now that we could get that I think could come in here and make a difference,'' he said.

Unless, of course, Miami makes a major deal before the Feb. 21 trade deadline.

But ``I'm not inclined to do something,'' Riley said. ``I think that's a knee-jerk reaction to a bad season that would compound it and make it even worse. I'm not going to devalue very talented assets.''

But to date, those ``talented assets'' have the Heat hearing footsteps from the NBA-worst Bulls. Only 7-29 Chicago has fewer wins than Miami.

So what's next? And is it possible things won't get any better for the Heat?

Asked on Sunday where the team goes from here, Riley responded, ``I don't know if there's anywhere to go. . . . Making lineup changes? Yes, I could do that. I probably will make a lineup change. I think I probably should to balance it out a little bit because there are some lineups that simply don't work.''

Riley obviously is willing to work on the situation. But at the same time he is reaching a level of frustration he has never experienced as an NBA coach.

``I've had a hell of a lot of patience with them,'' Riley said, ``given them a lot of rope, brought a lot of veterans in here to help see if we can win. And it hasn't translated into the result that we wanted.''

After Saturday night's loss, Riley fired off pointed comments, saying the players' families should be embarrassed and that their play ``will make [their] kids not want to go to school.'' He added that ``they looked like they had never played together.''

But Riley softened his tone Sunday, saying his remarks were made in the heat of the moment.

That's perhaps understandable when you consider Miami shot 32.6 percent, gave up its largest point total of the season and looked completely overmatched against a team that had dropped five straight games.

But Miami's players seem to share Riley's opinion that drastic measures aren't necessary at this point.

``You have to keep trying,'' guard Eddie Jones said. ``It may look dim, but you have to keep trying. Maybe the personnel isn't working. You never know. But you just keep trying to make it work. If you have any question that it's not [working], then it probably won't. I just think as players we have to stay positive.''

Said forward Brian Grant: ``There's always hope. We've seen some improvement, but it seems like every time we see a little improvement, we as players with our effort cause a lot of setbacks. It's all about effort.''

And that's just the message the Heat will hear from Riley until things improve. Riley's method of choice to turn this team around is to do more preaching. But is anyone listening?

``They're listening, they hear it,'' Riley said. ``But it's not translating to the court.''