Bird to Kravitz: 'I'm not mad, I'm disappointed' with Pacers

At this point, there's no panic button for anybody to push. The trade deadline has come and gone, and the Pacers are who they are, a massively talented team with championship aspirations who happen to be in a month-long funk. What can the Pacers do now, then?

It's simple, according to Larry Bird.

"A lot of times, we don't take the fight to them (the opponent),'' Bird said Tuesday, before the Pacers snapped a four-game losing streak by beating the Boston Celtics 94-83 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. "A lot of times we sit back and wait and see how it goes. And that was the case even when we were winning a lot of games early in the season. We've got to be mentally prepared to really go after the teams we're playing again. We can't have the mindset it's just another game; it's a very important game. All of them are.''

The bad news is, the Pacers have hit a wall, have gone 14-10 in their last 24 games. The good news is, they haven't completely coughed up their Eastern Conference lead because the Miami Heat have fallen on hard times, too. Come to think of it, the league's other mega-elite team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, has scuffled lately, too.

But Bird, the team's president of basketball operations, isn't ready to accept the idea that this is a momentary funk that every team experiences during a long, difficult season. He saw troubling signs even when the Pacers were starting 16-1 and 33-7, and he sees even more troubling signs now that the Pacers are playing at a severely diminished level.

The defense, once the best in the league by a country mile, has taken a holiday.

Paul George, who began the season looking like he'd push LeBron James and Kevin Durant for MVP, has been dealing with a sore back and a lot of inconsistency, not to mention a lingering obsession with officiating.

Luis Scola has lost his mid-range shooting stroke, which has been missing for more than a month now.

Roy Hibbert hasn't played with his usual energy since the All-Star break.

The turnovers continue to be an issue.

The lack of ball movement has been startling.

The bench, in general, has been a major surprise, and not in a good way. They were near the bottom of the league in bench scoring last year. Then, after a summer when they appeared to upgrade the bench in a dramatic way, they find themselves 28th in bench scoring.

"Yeah, that surprises me; that was the main goal, to get a big push from the bench, especially in the playoffs,'' Bird said. "Luis, the big thing is he's not scoring the ball like he did earlier in the season. I don't get it. They're ranked 28th, so they are what they are. I'm very disappointed in that. I thought they'd do a lot better for us.''

For years, Bird was patient as the team rebuilt from the ashes of The Brawl. He's not as likely to be patient with this team, who he felt from the very beginning was a championship-caliber team.

"People ask me if I'm mad at them,'' Bird said. "I'm not mad. I'm disappointed.''

So what can be done? Publicly, Frank Vogel has sounded a lot like Tony Dungy – stay the course, don't panic, do what we do. Privately, he's more likely to take his guys to task, even if that's not necessarily his default coaching style. Bird was more of an in-your-face coach during his time with the Pacers, and admitted he'd probably be tougher on the players than Vogel. For now, he's inclined to abide with Vogel's penchant for relentless optimism and positivity.

Sort of.

"I'm sort of going to Frank's side because he's had so much success by staying positive,'' Bird said. "We do have to stay the course. But I also think he's got to start going after guys when they're not doing what they're supposed to do. And stay on them, whether you've got to take them out of the game when they're not doing what they're supposed to do or limit their minutes. I will say, he hasn't done that enough.

"…Do I think they'll come out of it? Yeah, but I don't think it'll happen overnight.''

Vogel and Bird tried to kick-start the Pacers on Tuesday by activating Andrew Bynum (eight points, 10 rebounds), who hadn't played an NBA game in three months. While Vogel dismissed the notion that desperate times require desperate measures, he did acknowledge that the team's struggles, combined with Ian Mahinmi's injury, affected their decision to get Bynum into the mix.

Bird has faith in this group, and for good reason, but he's keeping a close eye out for signs of schism.

"One thing I'd be nervous about is pointing fingers,'' he said. " 'Well, so-and-so isn't doing this or that.' I haven't seen that, yet, but that's a sure sign you've got a problem.''

Bird also wonders about all the glowing publicity his team has received. This is no longer a team that can claim it lacks national exposure or respect from the national media. There was a GQ fashion shoot. There was a Hibbert story in Sports Illustrated. There was a George story in ESPN The Magazine. The Pacers have been media darlings.

"I was around this in Boston all the time,'' Bird said. "I just laugh about it; it's a new world for a lot of these kids. They've somehow got to block it out and stay focused. Sometimes, I think, they're not 100 percent committed to their jobs.''

Still, there is plenty of time left to get things right again. A month is a long time to get Evan Turner familiar with the team's defensive schemes, a long time to get Bynum's legs under him and make him an impact player come playoff time. In the long run, it doesn't much matter where they are or how they're playing in March. Talk to me in April and May, when it matters.

And, if things fall right, in June as well

Bob Kravitz is a columnist for The Indianapolis Star. Call him at (317) 444-6643 or email bob.kravitz@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @BKravitz.