Miami was so awful at the start of the season that coach Pat Riley was ready to resign. Times are starting to change.

Miami has won seven of its last nine to keep its slim playoff hopes alive. The keys include the improved play of Alonzo Mourning, Eddie Jones and Rod Strickland.

In addition, although his contributions have been limited, the Heat has also received help with the return of Kendall Gill.

Strickland is hitting mid-range jumpers far more consistently than earlier in the season, including 8-for-10 shooting and 20 points against the Bulls on Tuesday.

"We're more confident and grinding out wins," Strickland told reporters. Through Friday's games, the Heat was within 6? games of the final Eastern Conference playoff berth but it faces a difficult schedule in the next week.

"Every time we feel on top of the world, coach will put our record on the board," forward Brian Grant told reporters.

Said Riley to the media: "Some teams are probably hearing footsteps, but I don't think they have any fear of us. They just have to look at our record. . . . The team has enough talent to be very, very competitive in the conference. The important thing is to keep trying to climb over whoever is in front of us. This is a crucial time. If there is going to be a thought of [playoffs], it has to be done now. We have no cushion."

Riley blames himself for the poor start.

"I didn't have the right things for them in the first part of the year," he said. "We were too conservative, we didn't have the right offense in and I was playing the wrong guys. It's a learning process for me, too."

No Kidding:

Jason Kidd handed out 15 assists Monday in Dallas to become the sixth quickest player in NBA history to surpass the 5,000-assist mark. Kidd's achievement was overshadowed somewhat by an 1-for-17 night from the floor and the Nets losing, 113-105.

Excepting those shooting problems, it's been quite a week for Kidd. Not only did he rebound to lead the Nets to a win at San Antonio on Tuesday, but Kidd has suddenly been discovered by the rest of the country. Kidd is on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He has been the recent subject of profiles on "Good Morning America" and ABC's "World News Tonight." He has been on PBS with Charlie Rose.

Marbury bashing:

Former Nets player Johnny Newman said there's one reason why things went wrong in New Jersey: Stephon Marbury.

"A lot of guys had problems with Stephon," said Newman, 38, who signed with the Mavericks on Nov. 27. "They didn't want to talk about it; they didn't want to address it to him. It affected their playing."

Those problems, Newman went on, included comments and even angry looks at teammates by Marbury that made it clear he wasn't happy with them. Newman didn't cite anyone by name, but others have said a frequent target of Marbury's scorn was Keith Van Horn.

"I just think guys never really could feel comfortable and get into their games," Newman told reporters. "He had his way of doing things. He felt like there was a way to be a leader, and I guess that was just the opposite of some of the other guys' feelings, what they thought, and what they could deal with. I think it affected their performance . . . and that affected chemistry."

Home talent:

Cleveland native and Chicago Bulls forward Charles Oakley will make any all-quote team. Here's a dose of Oakley after the Bulls almost set the all-time low shooting percentage in a loss to Washington last week (they were at 19 percent with 90 seconds left and then hit five 3-pointers):

"What do we have to be embarrassed about? We're an 8-31 team."

Demotion:

San Antonio continues to fall. It's 8-8 after its last 16 games. The Spurs are 1-5 against the Big Four - Dallas, Minnesota, Sacramento and the Lakers. The story continues to be David Robinson. He went 1-for-8 for four points and seven boards against the Lakers on Friday. He missed his first seven shots and didn't play at all in the fourth quarter for the third time in five games. Coincidentally, that's when the Spurs collapsed.

After the L.A. loss, Robinson was averaging 7.1 points on 30.4 percent shooting in his last nine games.

"Look at David's body language on the floor," Terry Porter told reporters. "He just doesn't look comfortable. I'm not trying to single [Robinson] out, but he's the guy. This has always been, no matter the situation. . . . We just have to get him comfortable again or confident. We just need to get him in a rhythm."

Shorties:

Portland is the shortest team in the league, but its has moved up to sixth in rebounding percentage and hammered the Kings, 52-37, on the boards Tuesday. The biggest reason the Blazers have more than held their own is Dale Davis, playing out of position at center. Against Sacramento, he scored 17 and grabbed 12 boards, including 12 in the third quarter on 5-of-7 shooting.

"Everybody likes to score, but there are only so many shots a team can take," Davis told reporters. "I know what my job is. I don't mind."

Kings on King:

Playing on the Martin Luther King holiday meant many things to many different players for Sacramento.

Doug Christie told the media: "What happens a lot of the time is we get a little biased. But I think this is a celebration of his life, and that [stood] for everyone to be free, united, and there is no better way than at a basketball game, because everybody comes. . . . [King] was about getting everybody together, and this is teamwork and it doesn't matter. Look at our team - black, white, players from different countries. So if this isn't a melting pot of what Dr. King was talking about, there isn't one."

Lawrence Funderburke told reporters: "The Civil Rights Movement opened up a lot of doors to professional athletes, the contracts they make, and paved the way for a lot of African-American players who paved the way for players now, as well as for everyone across the board."

Cashing in:

Former Buckeye Michael Redd, whose contract is up at the end of the year, stands to make some big cash. Redd, now with Milwaukee, has been solid while Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson were out. He had 21 points Monday at Detroit, one off his career high, and has been a consistent double-figure scorer for the last month.

"There's no question he's playing better than we thought he'd play," coach George Karl told reporters. "We also knew he was pretty good when we traded Lindsey Hunter. But I can't say we thought he'd be this good. He's playing very special basketball. And what I like about the kid is he has a lot of courage. He was missing some shots [against the Pistons], but he kept shooting. Then he finally made the big three that got the game back in hand for us."

Bobblehead curse:

The bobblehead jinx that has gotten widespread publicity has been ducked by Dallas forward Juwan Howard. Howard had 22 points and 12 rebounds in Monday's win over the Nets when it was his bobblehead day. Michael Finley pulled his hamstring on his bobblehead moment on Dec. 27.

On the L.A. Clippers' bobblehead night for Lamar Odom, Odom missed the game while serving a suspension for failing a drug test.

It was Dan Issel bobblehead night when the former Denver Nuggets coach verbally attacked a heckler.