The Indiana Pacers have entertained fans with a free-flowing, high-octane offense the past two seasons.

They’ve pushed the tempo and pulled up for 3-pointers on the fast break. They’ve scored more than most teams in the NBA. They’re hard to guard.

Problem is, they hardly guard.

» Bob Kravitz: Pacers in playoffs? Yep, count me in
» The class clown: 5 wacky minutes with Troy Murphy
» Can’t be worse: 5 reasons this season will be better than last year
» The players: A look at the Pacers’ roster

The Pacers insist this season will be different. This season, they say, they’re restoring the D in In D iana.

You’ve heard that line before . . .

“People won’t believe us until we show them, honestly,” All-Star Danny Granger said. “We won’t make believers out of people until we put together a string of wins and come up with big defensive plays by shutting teams down the last two or three minutes of games. When we do that, they’ll believe it.”

. . .

“We’re not necessarily built to be a great defensive team. Right now, our talent lends itself to scoring the fifth-most points in the league and shooting well from the 3. I just don’t think we are athletic enough to be the type of defensive team that allows you to get in the playoffs and allows you to do something in the playoffs.” — Coach Jim O’Brien, April 3, 2009

. . .

Pacers team president Larry Bird gnawed at his fingernails last season wondering when his defense might stop anybody.

The Pacers lost 16 games by four or fewer points, and that doesn’t include three other games they lost in overtime.

They missed the playoffs by three games.

The reason was as plain as it was persistent: It appeared they worried as much about playing defense as the New York Yankees do about crossing baseball’s luxury tax. When the Pacers absolutely needed stops in the closing minutes, they couldn’t get them.

Bird’s offseason priority was to fix that.

So Bird acquired physical, defensive-minded players. He got guys with a reputation for knocking a player to the ground and then stepping over him to get down the court.

“We don’t want all milk drinkers here,” Bird said. “We like to have some guys that mix it up a little bit.”

Solomon Jones is an athletic, 6-10 shot blocker. Point guard Earl Watson was brought in to help stop dribble penetration. First-round draft pick Tyler Hansbrough brings intensity to everything he does.

But Dahntay Jones gives the Pacers something they’ve lacked since Ron Artest left: a true menace. That’s why he topped their free-agent wish list.

Jones, a former first-round pick who has bounced around the league, earned the same dirty reputation as Raja Bell and Bruce Bowen after starting on Denver’s Western Conference finals team last season.

He got in Kobe Bryant’s face and punished Chris Paul to the point both of their coaches complained.

“Everybody knows how we use him,” Denver coach George Karl told espn.com during last season’s playoffs. “We sic him on the best perimeter guy. That’s his job, that’s his assignment. A Bruce Bowen mentality and he’s done a good job with it. He’s done well with it.”

Jones’ responsibility will be to make things as difficult as possible for LeBron James, Bryant and Dwyane Wade.

“I think you can’t undersell having Dahntay and Earl on the team,” O’Brien said. “Those guys play with a great deal of intensity and passion. It’s a luxury to be able to tell those guys to go into the game and it turn out to be an upgrade defensively for us.”

Solomon Jones will team with Roy Hibbert to man the paint. Hibbert, who battled foul trouble throughout his rookie season, averaged a league-best 3.7 blocks in the preseason.

“It wasn’t a situation where you could stand pat because we were in the middle of the league defensively,” O’Brien said. “That’s OK, but that’s not going to get you in the playoffs. That’s why Larry went out and got the new players because we needed changes.”

. . .

it, but when it comes down to it, we don’t do it. We do it on occasion, but that’s not going to win enough games. Once we get that commitment, we’ll be a much better team." — Granger after the Pacers gave up an average of 121.2 points on a four-game trip in January

. . .

There can’t be just one player or even four players playing solid defense.

It takes all five, but it starts with one: the star.

Look at Boston, Cleveland and the Lakers, all title contending teams. All are led on defense by their MVP candidate: Kevin Garnett, James and Bryant, respectively.

O’Brien and his staff have challenged Granger, who once took pride in his defense, after basically giving him a year off so that he could carry the team offensively.

Those teams are in sync because their star player demands it.

They communicate. They play defense with passion. They take pride in contesting jump shots, cutting off driving lanes and, yes, knocking people to the floor.

They take offense to being scored upon.

The same can’t be said about the Pacers, who preferred shootouts to slugfests, even though such games led to their demise.

They were 5-26 when opponents scored 110 or more points last season.

They were 9-6 in games where neither team reached 100.

O’Brien dismisses the point total as “irrelevant” because of the style they play. He keeps his eye on field goal percentage defense. They want to move into the top 10 in that category.

Cleveland, Boston, Orlando and Denver were the top four defensive teams last season. All four made it to at least the second round of the playoffs.

“You have to be physical on and off the ball defensively,” Watson said. “I think vocally it has to spread throughout the team. You have to have all five guys talking. I’m not sure we’re actually there yet, but we’re making strides to get there.”

. . .

“We did not do a good job of keeping him in front, and our big guys did not do a good job stepping up and preventing him from getting layups. Against Felton, it was a team breakdown.” — O’Brien after Charlotte guard Raymond Felton scored a career-high 31 points last November.

. . .

Here’s a novel idea: O’Brien wants each player to defend his man without relying on help, especially in pick-and-roll situations.

That hasn’t been the case, and the problems started on the perimeter.

Opposing point guards beat their defender off the dribble and drove through the lane for layups or assists.

Dahntay Jones said the Nuggets “weren’t worried about (the Pacers) defense last year” because they could “get anything we wanted against them.”

The Pacers aren’t going to stop the league’s premier players. Few teams do. They want to force those players to take a lot of shots to reach their scoring average.

What they can’t have, however, is second-tier players such as Felton and Utah’s Mehmet Okur go for career highs again this season.

O’Brien can’t scheme for that. Players have to take it upon themselves.

“Mental toughness almost creates the will and passion to win a game from the opposing team,” Watson said. "No matter how much you’re up or you’re down, you always feel like you have a chance to control the game. But again, it has to be a complete team mind-set. It has to almost be a conscious known.

“When the season starts, it’s all or nothing. It’s time, and there’s no more time to talk about it. It has to be a constant act.”