The Indiana Pacers have been a model of consistency, so much so that their present freefall is almost shocking.

Since 1990, the Pacers have made the playoffs every season except one. Their year without postseason bonuses, 1997, was no disgrace; they finished 39–43 and just outside the top eight. Put another way, the last time the Pacers played less than .476 ball, we were in the first Bush administration, and the NBA was televised on CBS.

Unless the Pacers changes things fast, this will be their second year without postseason play since Bell Biv DeVoe ruled the airwaves, and the way they’re doing it won’t make anybody fuzzy or nostalgic. The Pacers have lost nine in a row and 12 of 15. What’s more, Indiana’s best player, center Jermaine O’Neal, is out with a sprained left knee; their point guard, Jamal Tinsley, has been suspended for conduct detrimental to the team and his suspension is said to have nothing to do with the felony charges he faces from a fight at a local strip club last month, and swingman Marquis Daniels is out with a sore left knee. Their fall has been so complete that the Knicks and Nets are now vying for a slot higher than the eighth seed.

Trouble and the Pacers seem to be on very good terms. In October, Pacer guard Stephen Jackson was arrested for firing a gun outside a strip club. Daniels was involved in the same incident as Tinsley last month. Even the Pacer mascot is facing a lawsuit for allegedly injuring a participant in a free throw contest. And of course, all this follows a rather ugly incident in Auburn Hills two seasons ago.

Indiana Pacer fans, the hoop aficionados in the area of Portland, Ore., know your pain.

Still the Pacers had managed to look like a midlevel playoff team until a few weeks ago, when the bottom fell out. The Pacers have been miserable in recent games. They struggled to break 60 against the Clippers in Los Angeles; then three days later, they scored only 72 in a blowout loss to the Jazz.

To put it mildly, the Pacers are not a good offensive team. They rank 27th in Offensive Efficiency (points scored per 100 possessions), but what’s particularly shocking about the Pacers’ nosedive is that it’s their usually stellar defense (ninth in Defensive Efficiency) that is failing. Seven times in the 24 games since the multiplayer deal with the Golden State Warriors, the Pacers, whose defense usually allows 98 points per game, have surrendered more than 108.

The troubles off the court are probably related to their struggles on the hardwood. The Pacers were so eager to unload Jackson that in sending him, forward Al Harrington, and guard Sarunas Jasikevicius to the Warriors, they took on a weak defender in Troy Murphy; a mediocre swingman, Mike Dunleavy, and an undersized power forward in Ike Diogu in return.

Indiana now finds itself in the thick of a race for the final playoff spots in the East, and they are down several key players. On Saturday night against Philadelphia, their personnel woes forced them to start 38-year-old Darrell Armstrong at point guard and use Oriene Greene, who is shooting a shockingly low 26.5% from the field, as his backup. Nevertheless, the offense ran well enough under the circumstances, but the D failed them again. The 76ers shot better and scored more than their seasonal averages in the 100–96 victory. On Sunday night, they allowed Cleveland to shoot 48.7% from the field in a 99–88 loss.

If the Pacers can right the ship, the waters ahead aren’t that rough. Except for three games against the Texas teams and one against Minnesota, the remainder of the Indiana schedule takes place against teams east of the Mississippi. The bar is set so low in the Eastern Conference that Indiana should still be able to host a pair of playoff games at Conseco Fieldhouse.

But another postseason entry can’t obscure the fact that it’s time to blow up this team and start over. It has fallen hard from three years ago when Indiana posted 61 wins. What’s worse, Indiana’s payroll, the sixth largest in the league, is chock full of oversize contracts. Without some aggressive maneuvers, the Pacers will be right at the luxury tax threshold until early in the next decade.

Fortunately for Pacer executives Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird, this off-season could put them a in good position to deal. The free agent class is full of attractive options, and few teams have enough cap room to shop seriously. Thus, the Pacers should look to be thirdparty players in sign-and-trade deals. Better point guard play (on and off the court) will likely be the top priority and that will go a long way to getting this team out of its current doldrums.

This sort of rebuilding would be a tall order for most teams, but the Pacers have had to reinvent themselves on the fly before, and they have done so successfully. They have fallen, but they don’t figure to be down long.

mjohnson@nysun.com