ran for 155 yards, but surrendered three sacks leading to two forced

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." Ray Allen Bucks Jersey ." The tournament was set to be held Sept. 15-21 and would have been the first ATP tournament held in Israel since 1996. But amid Israels military campaign against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, ATP President Chris Kermode said "we do not feel we can proceed as planned given the situation in the region. Eric Bledsoe Jersey . The striker headed Spurs into a 35th-minute lead and tapped in their third in the 71st after Chico Flores own goal. 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After a scoreless first period, Brad Marchand scored his first goal in eight games eight seconds into the second.CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Carolina coach Ron Rivera said its too soon to know who will start at quarterback next Sunday when the Panthers host the Cleveland Browns.With Cam Newton resting his back following an automobile accident, Derek Anderson threw for 277 yards and a touchdown and picked up his second win of the season in a 19-17 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.Rivera said he wont make any decisions until possibly mid-week on Newton, who is recovering from two lower back fractures after flipping his truck on Tuesday in a two-car wreck.Im not making any decisions until I get the opportunity to watch him on the football field, listen to what the trainers and doctors have to tell me, and then we will make our decision, Rivera said. But to make any judgment right now would be premature and would be a mistake.Anderson is 2-0 as Carolinas starter this season, although both wins have come against the lowly Bucs (2-12). Newton is 3-8-1.Rivera thought Anderson did some good things, but wanted him to get into the end zone more. The Panthers reached or started in Tampa Bay territory on every possession Sunday, but scored just 19 points.I wanted more for Derek Anderson, Rivera said. Derek is a very capable football player and he knows it. We talked about it during the game. He knows he could have put some more points on the board.Newton appeared to be moving around well on the sideline, but Rivera said hes unsure when the fourth-year quarterback will begin throwing the ball. He said hell know more on Wednesday.Anderson said he knows once Newton is healthy, hell be handing the reins of the offence back to the two-time Pro Bowl selection.I know what kind of person he is, what kind of competitor he is, Anderson said. If he can play, if he feels like he can play and go out there and win football games for us, hell do that.Here are some things to know about Carolinas second straight win and Tampa Bays fourtth straight loss:FLOUNDERING OFFENSE: The Bucs have scored 17 points or fewer in 11 of their 14 games, including each of the last four.dddddddddddd On their first four drives of the third quarter on Sunday, the Bucs totalled minus-2 yards on offence.OLSEN ON A TEAR: Panthers tight end Greg Olsen appears to be on his way to his first Pro Bowl. For the second straight week, Olsen caught 10 passes. He finished with 110 yards. He has 81 receptions for 960 yards and six touchdowns this season. If I see him one-on-one with a guy that I know cant cover him, I have a lot of confidence in what hes going to do, Anderson said.MOVING PARTS: Tampa Bay coach Lovie Smith shuffled his offensive line by benching Anthony Collins and moving Demar Dotson to left tackle. Oniel Cousins started at right tackle. The Bucs ran for 155 yards, but surrendered three sacks leading to two forced fumbles. We just thought for him in general, our best tackle, can he play the left side? Smith said. Trying to win football games, but thought he would be able to handle that. ... I thought he did a decent job.STILL IN THE HUNT: Amazing as it sounds, the Panthers lead the NFC South despite a 5-8-1 record. New Orleans is 5-8 heading into Monday nights game at Chicago, and Atlanta dropped to 5-9 with Sundays 27-20 loss to Pittsburgh. Its pretty crazy, Olsen said. But were not going to apologize for it.DEFENSIVE IMPROVING: Carolinas defence has been steadily improving over the past half-dozen games. It limited Tampa Bay to 287 yards and 15 first downs on Sunday, while sacking Josh McCown three times and forcing three turnovers. That might be enough to get by in upcoming games against Cleveland and Atlanta, but what remains to be seen is if they have improved enough to compete against a playoff-calibre team should the Panthers qualify for the post-season.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '