Vince Ellis

Detroit Free Press

The media got thoughtful Stan Van Gundy Saturday night.

After a couple of perfunctory questions following the Detroit Pistons’ 105-90 loss to the Indiana Pacers at the Palace, Van Gundy was asked about the team’s struggles since the return of Reggie Jackson to the lineup after missing the season’s first 21 games.

The team is 3-5 since and fell to one game below .500 (14-15) for the first time since Nov. 29.

But Van Gundy’s thoughts go beyond the return of Jackson.

He noted the starters has under-performed all season and that he is considering changes to the starting lineup and playing rotation.

“We’ve definitely got to look at some things – lineup and rotation-wise,” the Pistons coach said. “That unit is clearly not working – at least right now – and so the question is, how long do you stick with it?”

Van Gundy went on to mention that even in the three victories, the bench carried the night.

“In fairness, that lineup even before Reggie came back, the starting lineup with Ish (Smith) was outscored by opponents, too. Not by as much, but by opponents so that has not been as good a lineup. We were surviving because our bench was basically coming in and outplaying people. Our starting lineup has not been as good as it should be, it’s not as good as it was a year ago, certainly. We have to look at some things.”

It’s a stunning development for the Pistons (14-15), who came into the season brimming with confidence based on last season’s performance from the starting lineup of Jackson, Andre Drummond, Marcus Morris, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Tobias Harris, who acquired before the trade deadline.

It was one of the better five-man units in the league last season with a mediocre bench.

But it’s been a struggle this season.

The struggle has become so bad that Van Gundy didn’t enter the interview room until well past the normal time. The players – prompted by center Aron Baynes – held an impromptu meeting that delayed media availability further.

“We put a lot of stuff on the table,” Morris said. “Everybody cleared their minds.”

Van Gundy did caution that the team is only a few nights removed from a gutsy comeback on the road at Dallas and he will proceed with caution. The next game is Monday at Chicago.

“This lineup has not played well – even in the games we’ve won, that lineup has not played well,” Van Gundy said. “How long are you going to call it an adjustment phase and trot ’em out there or do you make a change?”

One possible change could be to move Jon Leuer into the starting lineup in place of Morris or Tobias Harris, but Leuer missed Saturday’s game with back spasms.

He was needed.

One night after a lifeless road performance, the Pistons repeated the effort.

Paul George scored an efficient 26 points and Jeff Teague added 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists as the Pacers (14-14) sent the Pistons below .500 for the first time since Nov. 29.

The Pacers scored 40 points in the paint and held the Pistons to 38.1% shooting. The Pacers outrebounded the Pistons, 51-40.

Caldwell-Pope scored 20 points and Jackson added 19 points and 10 assists for the Pistons (14-15).

The Pistons trailed by 21 points – one night after trailing by as much as 24 points in a 14-point loss at the Washington Wizards.

Jackson was 6-for-18 from the field.

The Pacers had struggled on the road this season, but made themselves at home in moving 4-10 away from Indiana.

A flurry of three-pointers gave the Pistons an early nine-point lead at 16-9. Caldwell-Pope had two of the triples.

But George’s three-pointer with 0.9 second left in the first quarter gave the Pacers a 27-25 lead.

The Pistons went without a field goal for more than 9 minutes – a period that spanned the first and second quarters.

But they only trailed by four with 3:09 left in the first half after a Marcus Morris triple cut the lead to 44-40.

But the Pacers continued to get into the paint and finished the half on a 7-0 run to take a 55-44 lead into halftime. George and Teague combined for 14 points each.

“Jeff Teague and Aaron Brooks killed us,” Van Gundy said. “We couldn’t keep them in front of us – at all. They were by us – not just on pick-and-rolls – just on their own, they were by us. We couldn’t stay in front of them at all so they had us broken down. That’s always going to create a problem.”

Contact Vince Ellis at vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.​ Download our Pistons Xtra app on iTunes or Android!