INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana Pacers bizarre season came to a familiar end Friday night. Another embarrassing loss at Miami. Now Larry Bird must spend the off-season trying to figure out what went wrong and what must be fixed to finally beat the Heat in the playoffs. "You just have to go into the off-season with the mindset that were going to reload. We have a core, a system, a culture thats going to give us a chance every year," coach Frank Vogel said after Fridays 25-point, season-ending loss. "Weve got to make whatever adjustments we have to make to come back and be here again next year." There are plenty of questions heading into what could be a turbulent off-season. Will Vogel be back after leading the Pacers to 42, 49 and 56 wins in his first three full seasons as coach, capturing back-to-back Central Division titles, reaching the last two conference finals and earning the No. 1 seed for only the third time in franchise history? Will the Pacers re-sign free agent Lance Stephenson, their 23-year-old energizer, whose erratic behaviour became a major distraction in the Eastern Conference finals? Could Hibbert be on the trading block after struggling through Indianas confounding second-half swoon and nearly disappearing, at times, during the playoffs? Might Bird make other moves to cope with the NBA trend of spreading the floor, add scorers or rebuild the bench yet again? Or do the Pacers simply need more time to mature? While those answers might not come for months, one thing is clear: They must find a way to get past Miami after three straight playoff series losses, the last two in the Eastern Conference finals. "Obviously, theyre more prepared, theyre more seasoned for this moment," David West said. "Theyve been able to embrace these moments to get to a level that we, for some reason, cant compete." Bird spent last summer revamping the bench, and Indiana responded with a 33-7 start — the best in the NBA. But after signing Andrew Bynum in February and trading Danny Granger for Evan Turner at the trade deadline, the Pacers went into a confounding second-half swoon in which they looked disengaged and disinterested. Two-time All-Star Paul George acknowledged Friday that the Pacers seemed to hit a wall, thinking they could turn it on whenever they needed it. Somehow, they still managed to finish with the best record in the East, rallied to win the final two games against eighth-seeded Atlanta after twice giving away home-court advantage and rallied again against a young Washington team after giving away home-court advantage in Game 1. When they did it again by failing to close out the Heat at home in Game 2, Miami responded by winning all three of its home games decisively to clinch the series. "You know at times it feels like were there, and then theres games where it still feels like were not at that point yet," George said when asked if he thought the Pacers had closed the gap on Miami. "Coach says it, I mean, in order for us to beat this team, weve got to play like champions. More times than not, we didnt do so." Most of the problems were self-inflicted. Indiana struggled with infighting, prolonged slumps, unseemly rumours and constant criticism. Hibbert epitomized much of it. In late March, he complained about "selfish dudes" in the locker room, a barb directed at Stephenson, later apologized and was so bad, at times, in the playoffs that fans and analysts called for his benching. And its unclear what the Pacers will do after a second straight blowout in an elimination game at Miami. Bird acknowledged the Pacers were going "all in" this season when they re-signed David West, gave George a max deal and traded away their first-round pick to get Luis Scola from Phoenix. Stephenson could be the next Pacers player to strike it rich. But after calling out LeBron James publicly before Game 4, blowing in his ear in Game 5 and tapping James on his chin early in Game 6, some wonder if the Pacers even want Stephenson back. It all depends on whether Bird thinks Stephenson can help beat the Heat. "I dont know what the future holds for us," West said. "Obviously, everything starts and ends with the Miami Heat. You have to have a team that can get through a tough regular season but ultimately, you have to be able to beat Miami to get to the finals." Tedy Bruschi Jersey . On Friday night, after a long rain delay, he was scratched from his scheduled start. Irving Fryar Jersey . A spokeswoman for the NLRB says its "a very incremental move" and does not necessarily indicate the board is close to a finding in the case. NFL owners filed an unfair labour charge against the players union in February, arguing that the union was not negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement in good faith. http://www.shoptheofficialpatriots.com/. Toronto (11-12) gave up leads in 10-8 and 11-4 losses to the Baltimore Orioles this week. It was never close Friday as the Boston Red Sox got to Mark Buehrle early en route to an 8-1 win. Steve Grogan Jersey . Sizemore, who turned 29 on Jan. 4, has been limited to six games over the past two seasons because of an injured left knee that twice required surgery. He originally got hurt on Feb. 25, 2012, during a fielding drill in Oaklands first full-squad spring training workout and had surgery that March 21 to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Custom New England Patriots Jerseys .com) - The Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics both entered Wednesday nights game riding lengthy losing streaks.BORMIO, Italy -- American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin fought through snow, rain and deep ruts to win her second World Cup slalom of the season Sunday, displaying her ability to deal with all types of conditions a month before the Sochi Olympics. The 18-year-old Shiffrin led by 0.03 seconds after the opening run and ending up winning by 0.13 ahead of Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden for the sixth victory of her career. "I was really psyched to win again," said Shiffrin, who was 12th and second in her previous two slaloms. "Its been a fight all season and I feel like, if Im not perfectly ready, then the win goes to somebody else. So I was really trying to prepare myself and be ready to go today no matter what the conditions or the visibility." Nastasia Noens of France moved up from 13th after the first run to finish third, 0.62 behind. Shiffrin was only 0.01 ahead of Pietilae-Holmner at the final checkpoint but she excelled on the steep finishing gates to add to her lead. Conditions were difficult with snow falling on the top part of the course and rain at the bottom in the opening run, with spectators holding up umbrellas. During the second run, it was snowing at both the top and bottom. "Its always a big confidence booster to have good skiing in different conditions," Shiffrin said. "I never wanted to be a racer who could only win on hard snow or just soft snow, or just a steep pitch or just a flat. I want to be really good in all-around conditions and getting a win today has given me a lot of confidence that I can ski out of ruts in the second run." Overall World Cup leader Maria Hoefl-Riesch stood fifth after the opening run but lost control shortly into her second trip down and skied off course. Austrian specialist Marlies Schild recovered from a poor opening run -- she was 15th -- to finish sixth, with her younger sister Bernadette Schild placing fourth. Marie Michele Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., moved from 16th to fifth after an solid second run in tough conditions gave her a combined time of 2:01.52. Gagnon moved up to third in the World Cup slalom standings and eighth overall.dddddddddddd "Im happy with the result," Gagnon said. "It was one of those races where you have to be flexible and do whatever you can. It was half rain, half snow. "I had a pretty tough time just to make it to the bottom in the second run because I was really wild but I was charging. It was pretty tough." Erin Mielzynski of Collingwood, Ont., was 17th in 2:02.29. Marlies Schild won the past two races to set the record for most World Cup slalom victories with 35 and trailed Shiffrin by just two points in the discipline standings entering the race. Shiffrin now leads by 62 points, with four more slaloms left to defend her season-long title from last year, when she also won the gold medal in the slalom at the world championships in Schladming, Austria. It was Shiffrins third consecutive podium result after placing third and second in a giant slalom and slalom last weekend in Lienz, Austria. Her other win this season came in Levi, Finland, in November. "Im very excited with how my season is going right now and I think I can do better, too," Shiffrin said. Pietilae-Holmners only two victories came in the 2010-11 season. "Ive been struggling with injuries the past two years," she said. "I tore the ACL in my knee two years ago after my best season then had shoulder surgery last spring." Noens only previous podium result came in a slalom in Flachau, Austria, three years ago. "Its been a while," the 25-year-old Noens said. "Its great to be back up here a month before the Olympics." Resi Stiegler, the only other American starter, was 40th in the first run and failed to qualify for the second leg. Four-time overall winner Lindsey Vonn skipped the race as she continues to rest her injured knee. The race was moved from Zagreb due to a lack of snow in Croatia, where Shiffrin also won last year. A mens slalom is scheduled for Monday night on the Stelvio. The Sochi Games start Feb. 7. 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