Candace Buckner

Pacers at Raptors%2C 7%3A30 p.m. Friday%2C FSI

Through a quarter of the season and six changes, the Indiana Pacers have not found something that even resembles an effective starting lineup. Nothing has clicked.

Not Chris Copeland shoehorning in at the small forward position. Nor Rodney Stuckey moonlighting as a point guard. Not even the steadying force of the only two regulars, David West and Roy Hibbert, has calmed the mismatched and underperforming unit.

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Clippers won 103-96 because their starters built large leads in the first and third quarters while matched against the Pacers' unit. But the Pacers nearly snapped their losing streak because four bench guys came to the rescue and brought back the team each time the starters dug a hole.

"Our chemistry is not very good with that group," said David West, who finished 1-for-7 for two points in 25 minutes. "We've got to work on it. Thank God for those other guys, the second unit guys keeping some of these games close, because we just haven't been able to start the games well. We get down and really put the team in a bad way."

As the overarching storyline of the season persists – injuries decimating the 16-man roster – so has the consequence of the Pacers chasing after the visage of continuity. Players have stepped into uncomfortable roles or worked within unfamiliar lineups. This collection of Indiana starters combined for 30 points against the Clippers, while CJ Miles came off the bench to score 30 by himself. Reserves Lavoy Allen (14 points and 13 rebounds) and Luis Scola (12 and 14) contributed double-doubles while backup point guard C.J. Watson contributed eight points. The Pacers once trailed by 20 points, but the bench trimmed the deficit to just 98-96 with 2 minutes remaining in the game.

Just two nights ago, when coach Frank Vogel was asked if he had planned to alter the starting lineup, he said, "it's unlikely to change now."

Now, after the Pacers lost their sixth straight and dropped to a 7-15 record, it appears that more disruption will be the only way to stabilize the team.

"I think they're giving effort. I don't think they're in any kind of rhythm and we'll evaluate what needs to happen with that group, either changing the starting lineup or tweaking how we play with that group to get them to play better," Vogel said after the loss. "It either has to change or we have to use it differently to make it succeed. Something's got to change to get off to better starts."

With the addition of a healthy West on Nov. 28 – the last time the Pacers won a game – the expectation was to return him to his power forward spot in the starting lineup. This moved Scola, who had started all the previous games, to the bench. Then, while the Pacers recently played on the road during a three-game trip, Vogel wanted to address the sagging defensive end and benched true point guard Donald Sloan in favor of Stuckey, and inserted 6-8 Chris Copeland for length at small forward. However, the change shifted three players out of their natural positions.

Asked if he felt players performing out of position could explain the starters' slow starts, West considered the question.

"I don't know," he said, then added with a slight grin: "That's a good observation."

Last year with Detroit, Stuckey played just 3 percent of his team's total minutes as a point guard, compared to 71 percent at shooting guard. On Wednesday, he was the lone starter to play more than 26 minutes and finished with 10 points, six assists and two turnovers.

Copeland, though he confidently believes he can play multiple positions, is a stretch-4 in the NBA – and throughout last year, Vogel defined him as such. Besides the position, Copeland may also be better suited coming off the bench. This season as a starter, Copeland has averaged 8.9 points on 33 percent field goal shooting and 26 percent from 3s compared with 13.5 points, 41 and 42 percent, respectively, as a reserve player.

Before arriving in Indiana, Hill had settled in as a small forward through his four years as a college player at Arizona and only worked from that position in his brief time on the court last year in his rookie season. However, in his four straight starts as the shooting guard, Hill has shot just 36 percent.

The West-Hibbert tandem cannot be without criticism. Against the Clippers, the pair combined for six points and six rebounds. Wednesday marked just the second time in West's 12-year-career that he scored only two points in 25 minutes on the court.

Throughout his postgame comments, Vogel repeated his belief that things will come around. It's that faith that has earned him a Pollyanna reputation, but Vogel holds fast that improvement will come.

"I have an image of being an optimist," Vogel said, "but I'm really a realist and I had a realist perspective on every game we've played this year and the situation we're in and the challenges we face."

Last year, Vogel stayed true to his smash-mouth lineup even when the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the playoffs exposed it. But while his critics clamored for a change, the Pacers won that seven-game series, so Vogel got the last laugh. Now, the realist in Vogel can see it's time for something different.

"Maybe I get criticism for being stern with the rotations, but the rotations I was criticized for being stern with were working at a very high level, best team in the East all last year," Vogel said. "When you're 7-15, you've got to be more flexible, and if we find something that works, we'll stick with that."

Then, Vogel, freeing the optimist inside, quickly added.

"When we find something that works."

Follow Star reporter Candace Buckner on Twitter: @CandaceDBuckner.