INDIANAPOLIS -- The Bad Boy image of Isiah Thomas' Detroit Pistons has been shifted to Indiana -- and the Pacers don't like it.

	Artest

Despite 12 flagrant fouls this season and suspensions against Thomas and Ron Artest last week, the Pacers insist they're being unfairly labeled because of Thomas' association with the notorious Pistons.

"Just because Isiah's our coach and he was on the Bad Boys team, they consider us Bad Boys,'' point guard Jamaal Tinsley said. "I think we just go out there hard every time. Other teams try to do little stuff to certain players on our team. We've got to get smart enough to know people are going to challenge us like that.''

The Pacers have the best record in the Eastern Conference at 34-14, well ahead of their pace from last year, when they went 42-40 and lost to New Jersey in the first round of the playoffs. Jermaine O'Neal was voted the starting center for the All-Star game, and Brad Miller was chosen as a reserve.

But the behavior of the young team has overshadowed its turnaround.

Artest has served three games of a four-game suspension for confronting the Miami Heat bench and brushing up against coach Pat Riley during a victory Jan. 27, then making an obscene gesture toward the Miami crowd.

Thomas, who was captain of Detroit's championship teams in 1989 and 1990, was suspended for two games for escalating an on-court altercation and not acting as a peacemaker during a fight with the Raptors on Friday night.

"This has brought an awful lot of focus on our franchise for a lot of negative reasons, some of which we're probably guilty of,'' team president Donnie Walsh said. "With the punishments that are involved, it would seem to be disproportionate to what actually took place.''

Artest's punishment came just a few weeks after he was suspended for hurling a TV monitor and smashing an expensive camera after a close loss in New York. 3. He also was fined $10,000 for shoving Dallas' Raja Bell.

Thomas is allowed to coach practice, and Artest can participate during the suspensions. Thomas won't coach again until he leads the East team at the All-Star Game in Atlanta on Sunday.

The Pacers say teams are trying to pick fights because it's the only way they can deal with Indiana's physical, aggressive defense.

"We pound the basketball and we play defense,'' Miller said. "I just think the league hasn't seen a team like this since Detroit. That's what they're trying to characterize it as, as us being the Bad Boys, but we're just playing hard.''

Mavericks coach Don Nelson disagrees. He told Sports Illustrated the Pacers are "just plain dirty.''

Before Saturday night's 109-100 home victory over Boston, Walsh addressed the Pacers and implored them to just concentrate on playing the game. Bad Boys or not, some Pacers are easily distracted by questionable calls or belligerent fans.

"These are our tough times. They have to bring us closer together,'' Walsh said. "They have to make us stronger. We've done so well as a team, we have to continue and be more adamant about being a great team this year.''

Thomas has dismissed comparisons between the Pacers and the Pistons of the 1980s. He hopes his team can become as mentally tough as his old team was, but the Pacers are still learning how to win.

"When you're leading the pack and looked upon as one of the good teams in the league, every team is going to come after you, and every team is going to play their best basketball against you,'' Thomas said.

Miller said the Pacers intend to keep playing their brand of ball.

"The league is going to have to adapt to us, more so than us adapting to what the league perceives we should play like,'' he said. "We're not a pretty team. We play physical. We play tough, and we play hard-nosed. There's not a lot of teams that can do that for 48 minutes. We're not going to change.''