Thomas out as Pacers coach

INDIANAPOLIS -- Isiah Thomas was fired Wednesday as coach of the Indiana Pacers, a surprise move by new boss Larry Bird that came only two months before the start of the season.\nThomas, an NBA Hall of Famer, led a young Pacers team into the playoffs in all three of his seasons, but they were knocked out in the first round each year.\n"After looking at film, seeing how things were and evaluating the basketball operations, I detected the team's chemistry wasn't what it should be," Bird said. "Donnie and I decided that a change was necessary and a fresh start was important."\nDonnie Walsh, the team's CEO, and Bird, the president of basketball operations, did not immediately pick a successor or set a timetable for choosing a new coach.\n"We have decided to go in a different direction," Walsh said in a statement. "When I hired Isiah, I thought he was the right man for the job and at the time and he was."\nThe team said it would honor the final year of Thomas' contract. An official announcement was expected at a news conference later in the day.\nThomas was with the U.S. men's basketball team at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico earlier this week. He checked out of his hotel Tuesday and could not immediately be reached for comment.\nThe Pacers were 131-115 in the regular season under Thomas.\nBird and Thomas were contentious rivals from their days of leading the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons to NBA titles in the 1980s.\nWhen he was hired July 11, Bird walked off the podium at a news conference and shook hands with Thomas -- but neither smiled.\nBird led the Pacers to the 2000 NBA Finals and the best three-year record in their NBA history during his time as coach. Thomas succeeded him as coach.\nIndiana had the best record in the Eastern Conference at the All-Star break this past season, making Thomas the All-Star coach, but went 14-19 the rest of the season and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Boston.\nWalsh at the time gave no indication Thomas wouldn't return, although he said the second-half swoon was troubling.\nPacers players had continued to voice support for Thomas. Jermaine O'Neal, then a free agent, said before he re-signed with the team last month that he would not play for anybody but Thomas with the Pacers.\nThe biggest criticism of Thomas was his inconsistent rotations. While most players preferred a set role, Thomas made his decisions on his own feelings for a particular game and team matchups.