The question wasn't asked of him just on Monday.
In fact its come from all angles-media, friends and fans-since the clock hit zero at the United Center at about 3:30 P.M. on Saturday afternoon.
"A lot of people are saying 'Well can they play any better than that?,' said Vogel, not citing just how many inquiring minds have asked him that question.
On the edge of the court during the Pacers shootaround at the empty cavernous home, the interim head coach had a simple but firm answer to that that question.
"We can play a lot better than we played the other night we watched the tape there was a lot of areas that we could clean up," said Vogel of his team.
For a Pacers fan that could be encouraging, considering the team's effort for 45 minutes on Saturday afternoon against the top-seeded Bulls could have been their best of the 2010-2011 season.
Indiana took the lead right from the start and expanded it to double digits a number of times-including after a Tyler Hansbrough dunk and foul with 3:38 to go. It disappeared in a blur as Chicago completed the game on a 16-1 run to end the upset threat.
"For me it's frustration, a lot of people look at it as, you know, we played well, gave us some light," said Hansbrough when asked if he was satisfied with the team's effort. "But no, I wanted to pull that one out and its very frustrating because we felt like we played so good for a long stretch and kinda gave it away at the end."
Doing so in game two, according to Vogel, could be a simple fix. The coach pointed to the team's passing game-which he said was a strong point during the season-as a quick and easy thing to fix before Monday's game two that could help to push the advantage towards the Pacers.
"We still haven't scratched the surface of the way which we can pass the basketball, which were going to need to do against the number one defense," said Vogel. "We had some guys that competed at a high level the other night with their shot making but we didn't have a great passing game.
"We can do that against this team and be very effective."
