Pacers coach Jim O'Brien is happy to have the support of team president Larry Bird.

Bird said Monday that O'Brien "is going to be here; that's one thing the players have to know."

Indiana is 9-21 and has lost seven straight contests.

"I know Larry feels that way," O'Brien said. "We're going through a tough time. He doesn't like to lose. I don't like to lose. We're struggling right now and it's my job to get us out of that pattern and get us in the position to win basketball games."

The Pacers are currently 3 1/2 games out of he playoff picture.

"We're not out of the playoff race and we need to develop young guys, and sometimes during the course of 82 games, you run into a rough patch," the coach added. "We're in a rough patch."

Pacers forward Troy Murphy sprained his left ankle in the team's loss to the Bulls on Tuesday night.

The Indianapolis Star reports that Murphy is not expected to play against the Grizzlies on Wednesday.

Murphy suffered the injury when he stepped on the foot of Bulls center Brad Miller.

Pacers president Larry Bird hinted on Monday that changes could be on the horizon, but he won't take his eyes away from the future.

Bird gave coach Jim O'Brien a vote of confidence and said that if any changes are made they will come via trades.

However, Indiana won't simply make a deal for the sake of shuffling the roster.

"Something we have to do is really watch everything and make sure, if we make a deal, it's going to be looking forward to the future," Bird said. "We've always been looking. We talk to people, just not every day. With the cap and the (luxury) tax coming down again next year, we're in a situation where we have to be very careful what we do."

The Pacers are looking towards the summer of 2011, when the contracts of Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy will expire.

Pacers president Larry Bird says that head coach Jim O'Brien is safe.

Bird is frustrated by the team's play as of late, but told the Indianapolis Star's Mike Wells that if anything changes it will be the roster.

"Jim is going to be here, that's one thing the players have to know," Bird said Monday. "The coach is secure. We wouldn't have picked up his option if we didn't think he was secure. If the players have a problems with Jim, the players are the ones that are probably going to leave."

Indiana has lost six straight games and were thumped by 34 points against Miami on Sunday night.

"I don't like what I'm seeing," said Bird. "Going in we expected to compete and be in every game. I thought last year we played very hard and had a chance to make the playoffs at the end. The play on the court now, it's no excuse, we have to be able to compete on a nightly basis."

Pacers forward Danny Granger did some light shooting on Saturday for the first time since tearing his right plantar fascia.

"It was decent. I haven't really pushed it yet because I don't think I'm at that point yet," Granger said. "The foot is still healing. Each day I try to do more and more on it."

The real test for Granger will come when he starts running, but no timetable for that has been determined.

The All-Star forward has been out for three weeks. The Pacers provided an original timetable of four to six weeks.

"There's no chance I'll be out for the full the six weeks," Granger said. "I'm thinking about another two to three weeks."

Pacers swingman Mike Dunleavy is struggling to find his legs after missing all of training camp and the first 13 games of the regular season.

Dunleavy is coming off knee surgery in March and Indiana coach Jim O'Brien is looking into what options are available for the forward.

"Clearly his legs are not in the type of game shape that they need to be," O'Brien said. "That's a dilemma because it's hard playing basketball without strong legs, and it doesn't look like his legs are carrying him very well right now.

"I'll have to talk to our medical staff and see what their impressions were because I don't know if his legs are ready to carry much of a load right now. That would be my best guess."

Dunleavy has had limited practice time because the Pacers haven't had many off days lately.

"It's not so much missing the practice time now as it's missing training camp," Dunleavy said. "The last two years, you really get an appreciation for training camp, because you can build up your legs and get in shape.

"The first 10-12 games of the season are usually a piece of cake because you have adrenaline, but once you settle into the routine of the season, you realize it's a long haul and you don't have that base."

Dunleavy is averaging 12.7 points and 3.1 rebounds on 42.9% shooting this season.

The Cavaliers are looking for an upgrade at power forward and the Cleveland Plain Dealer mentions Indiana's Troy Murphy as an option.

Multiple sources have told the Plain Dealer that "there's an interest from both parties for the prototypical stretch forward."

Murphy will make $12 million next season and the Pacers have been losing money in recent seasons.

He is averaging 12.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game this season.

Spurs forward Tim Duncan dunked over Indiana's Roy Hibbert with 4.6 seconds left in regulation on Saturday night to give coach Gregg Popovich his 700th victory.

Hibbert blocked Duncan's first shot attempt, but the veteran followed up with a second attempt that turned out to be the game-winner.

"I wanted to try to take it to the glass and see what happens, and Hibbert made a very good defensive play," Duncan said. "I saw the guy come from the corner and tried to stretch it out, and he still got a piece of it, and it just came right back to me. It was a little bit of luck."

Hibbert felt as though he let the Pacers down.

"I blocked it and he got it right back," Hibbert said. "I should have made a second effort to try and get another block but I was off-balance and he dunked it and finished it for his team."

Popovich became the 16th coach in NBA history to reach 700 wins and is among seven active coaches to hit the milestone.

"As has been all season, Tim Duncan is our most consistent player," the coach said. "He's been fantastic."

Grizzlies guard Jamaal Tinsley will face his former team, the Pacers, in Memphis on Friday night.

Tinsley says he has no animosity toward the Pacers, who asked him to stay away from the team after the 2007-08 season.

Indiana forced him to sit out last season while removing his name from all team-related materials and promotions.

"It didn't hurt my feelings at all," Tinsley said in a phone interview with the Indianapolis Star. "I gained a lot of stuff out of the situation. You realize and learn more stuff as you get older. I can't control how they feel about me. I have no bad feelings about them.

"I don't dislike them. It's a business. They wanted to move on, and I wanted to move on, too."

Tinsley signed a one-year contract with the Grizzlies in November.

"Just another game, a game we need to win," Tinsley said of Friday's matchup with the Pacers.

He is averaging 4.5 points and 3.6 assists in Memphis.

Pacers forward Danny Granger is doing his best to remain positive despite suffering a torn right plantar fascia.

He'll miss at least a month with the injury.

"It's not so much frustration, just kind of disappointed, obviously with the way the season's going and the situation with my heel," Granger said. "But it happens and I'll get through it."

Granger was averaging 24.4 points and 6.1 rebounds prior to the injury.

"I'm not going to lie to you," he said of rushing back. "It will be very difficult, especially since I don't know where we'll be standings-wise in the East when it's time for me to come back. I'm going to try and get back as soon as possible and hopefully we'll still be in playoff contention."

Heading into Friday night's action the Pacers were 6-13, 2 1/2 games behind the Bobcats for the Eastern Conference's eighth seed.