Nate Taylor

IndyStar

Larry Bird is conflicted. As the Indiana Pacers near the midway point of their season, their team president does not see the same team he watched excel in November. Bird wants to see the Pacers play faster, yet he understands coach Frank Vogel might have to alter their original plan to ensure the team makes the playoffs.

Bird is concerned about the team’s performance in the past month. The Pacers have lost nine of their past 15 games. Bird said he is not exactly sure why the Pacers have struggled and is uncertain where the team is headed next as they begin a four-game trip Sunday against the Denver Nuggets.

“I just can’t get a handle on it right now because these guys are up and down,” Bird said in a telephone interview just hours before Friday’s game against Washington. “I can’t tell you what is best for us right now. We’ve had success with the small lineup, but we’ve had success with two big guys in there. It’s going to take a little bit more time, but I would like to have won more games up to this point. I don’t think any of us feel comfortable with how we’re playing and the way things are going.”

Is bigger better for the Pacers? Not necessarily

What Bird does not want the Pacers to do is waver from the new offensive philosophy they developed in the offseason.

When the season began, Bird and Vogel wanted the Pacers to play in a remodeled, spread offense that featured four wing players on the perimeter around center Ian Mahinmi. The Pacers won 11 games in November by primarily using the spread lineup despite Paul George resisting the change and staying at his natural small forward position.

Since then, however, Vogel has relied more on a traditional starting lineup that has Lavoy Allen starting at the power forward position instead of C.J. Miles. The Pacers are a far better defensive team with the bigger lineup, but Bird wants so see more of the spread lineup to help improve the team's offensive issues. He also sees the smaller lineup having a better chance of creating mismatches with opponents.

“I’d like to see teams match up with us instead of us worrying about who certain guys are going to guard on the other teams,” Bird said. “Let’s see if they can guard us. If you’ve got good ball movement and you've got guys hitting shots, it makes it pretty easy.”

After talking with Bird after Thursday’s practice, Vogel returned to the spread lineup to start Friday’s game for the first time since Dec. 31. The results were not what Bird desired. The Pacers fell behind early to the Wizards and struggled throughout in a 118-104 blowout loss. The Pacers missed 14 of their 17 3-pointers and were outrebounded by the Wizards 54-35.

Bird and Vogel have talked almost every day throughout the season. Vogel said their conversations have not changed much, but he mentioned before Friday’s game that every aspect of the team is in flux, from which lineup should start to which players should be on the court in the final minutes of games.

Vogel said he has favored the big lineup because it has a strong defensive rating of 89.4, a statistic that measures points allowed per 100 possessions, entering Friday’s game. The spread lineup’s defensive rating is 106.3.

“He understands that you’ve got to play the lineups that are producing,” Vogel said of Bird. “If we were playing Lavoy Allen at (power forward) when the spread lineup was more productive, that wouldn’t make any sense. He’s more interested in winning games than anything else, as am I.”

Beyond the statistics and opposing teams’ rosters, another reason Vogel has relied less on the spread lineup is because of George, the team’s star player. George, who leads the Pacers in scoring with 24.1 points per game entering Friday, has said several times that it is harder for him to find his rhythm on offense in the spread lineup.

“I’m always going to be more comfortable with the big lineup just because of the nature of it,” George said after Tuesday’s win over the Phoenix Suns. “I know where guys are at. It’s not much randomness in the big lineup.”

Pacers hope to solve their late-game issues

The two biggest issues Bird will focus on during the second half of the season is figuring out which starting lineup is best for the Pacers and what style of play and combination of players to use in the final minutes.

Bird said the biggest frustration for him in the past month is watching the Pacers falter in the closing minutes of several games. In each of the Pacers’ past three losses entering Friday, the team squandered a fourth-quarter lead on the road.

“If we would have just closed out two or three or four more of the games we had the lead, we would be sitting here and going, ‘Hey, this small ball and this big thing looks good,’ ” Bird said. “Do I want to get back to winning games? Yeah. Do I want to close games out and win more? Yeah. I want to do it with the style, whether it’s big or small, that’s going to win games for us.”

Bird said he will not demand that the Pacers play a specific style or a particular lineup, but he has made it clear what he wants: He prefers the spread offense and the ball movement it is designed to create.

“Frank knows exactly where I’m at on it,” Bird said. “But if he’s got to play two bigs, he’s got to play two bigs. He’s the coach and I’ll back him on that.”

Call IndyStar reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter: @ByNateTaylor.

Pacers at Nuggets, 8 p.m. Sunday, Fox Sports Midwest