Candace Buckner

PORTLAND, Ore. – As dull as the Indiana Pacers can look on the offensive end with half court sets resembling charity drives since they give the ball away so often, and their shot making appearing like a lost art, they still have a hope in surviving for a low seed in the Eastern Conference by playing great defense.

But recently, the Pacers have shown vulnerability in this defining characteristic, allowing 109 points to Cleveland then surrendering a season-high 116 in Phoenix in back-to-back losses. In spite of the Pacers' obvious limitations with the roster, these latest showings have troubled head coach Frank Vogel.

Maybe 'inspired' would be a better word, because Vogel – questioned and criticized in the past for his refusal to modify starting lineups and rotations – long made up his mind before the Pacers played the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday that a change was needed.

So even after his Pacers lost a game marred by poor execution, turnovers and technicals, 88-82, to the Blazers, Vogel looked at all the ugly and saw improvement.

Indiana (7-12) might have dropped its third straight game but the new starting lineup, formed solely for defensive purposes, progressed towards a steadier foundation, in Vogel's eyes.

"I wanted to become more of an Indiana Pacers like team," Vogel said. "That was the primary thing, try to get our defense clicking. I think that part of it helps. It's good to have a better defensive performance (against) that team, one of the best offensive teams in the league to 88 points with a pretty strong defensive effort."

"We grew on the defensive end," Vogel continued. "We gave up 116 points to Phoenix the other night, we want to get back to who we are…and we took a step towards that."

In the previous day and even hours leading up to the Portland matchup, Vogel had said that his starting lineup would remain in tact for "continuity." However, the Phoenix loss on Tuesday dropped the Pacers out of the eighth seed and it appears that at least by the following day, Vogel had committed to starting Rodney Stuckey (team high 16 points) at point guard. Also, Solomon Hill moved out of his undersized small forward role to come back to the two-guard position while 6-8 Chris Copeland filled in at the three. Also, that loud thud coming out of Moda Center on Thursday? That was Donald Sloan, who had started the previous 18 games at point, dropping out of the 10-man rotation and landing at the end of the bench.

The new lineup – with the frontline anchors David West and Roy Hibbert who both received separate technical fouls in plays involving Portland center Robin Lopez – played like the old Indiana Pacers.

In the first quarter, the muck-it-up style favored Indiana: 45 combined shot attempts by the teams but only 13 makes and a fight for the defensive glass as the Pacers grabbed as many rebounds (14) as they scored points. Portland was only slightly better and scored just 16.

Though this season, the Blazers once scored 84 points in a first half, but by the intermission on Thursday night, they had fallen into the Pacers' morass pace and led only 38-33. At that point, the Blazers only made one 3-pointer in 10 attempts and for the game, they shot just 19 percent overall. In a building where the Blazers have won 10 games, the most in the NBA, those defensive achievements still resonated inside the visitors' locker room after the defeat. Indiana held Portland (15-4), the sixth highest scoring team in the league, to its lowest total for the season.

"They're not an easy team to play against," said Damjan Rudez, who filled the backup minutes as small forward, "and I think we did a very solid job on the defensive end holding them to 38 in the first half in their own building where they're dominant."

Still, the little things – like, making shots and possessing the ball – ruined the Pacers as they have in previous losses.

After tying the game at 66 in the fourth quarter, Indiana could not make a shot for nearly four minutes as the Blazers opened up their biggest lead, 77-66, with 5:32 remaining. Also, Indiana's 17 lost possessions turned into 24 points for Portland.

So, the whole idea about scoring the basketball still needs some work, but this is not a revelation. Rather, this is just Indiana Pacers basketball: where defense rules everything, even at the expense of a functioning offense.

Now that the Pacers have their rotation set until George Hill returns from injury, they'll look to getting back to their old ways. Though it took only one night for the newly formed starting lineup to work well on defense together, it could take much longer for the unit to learn to win together.

"We still have to figure things out. This is new but we're going to get used to it," Hibbert said. "It's this type of season where we're trying to figure out our identity. We have to roll with what our coach says and try to make it work and win games in the process. It's different but everything will fall in line."

Follow Star reporter Candace Buckner on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.