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Mavericks vs. Pacers Links: Familiar faces for Dallas may not be so friendly to Pacers

There will be an abundance of familiar faces on the Dallas bench when the Pacers host the Mavericks on Friday night.

By Tom Lewis
Gregory Shamus

The Indiana Pacers face the Dallas Mavericks at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Friday night in desperate need of a win. Unfortunately, the Mavs are one team that has more motivation to beat the Pacers than any other team in the league.

Several Dallas players and coaches used to call the Fieldhouse home and at least a couple of those guys will be in full F-you mode as they take on the Pacers. Chief among the screw you crew will be former Pacers point guard Darren Collison and former Pacers head coach Jim O'Brien. Their desire for a win should be backed up by all of the Mavs, so the Pacers will have to bring it tonight to avoid another embarrassing evening on the court.

Here's a look at the familiar faces we'll see on the opposing bench tonight:

Darren Collison - I'd expect DC to be amped up and ready to go at his former team which isn't a good thing. Collison seems to rise up when the stakes rise as he did in the post season the past two years. Hopefully his streaky shot will be bouncing tonight.

Dahntay Jones - DJ shouldn't have much of an ax to grind tonight since the Pacers sent him to Dallas where he has a bigger role than he did in Indy. But Dahntay likes to keep things on edge and will no doubt have plenty to say through out the night.

Troy Murphy -Should be an interesting reception for Murphy. His time with the Pacers ended in blah fashion. He was a guy who just played but never seemed committed to anything in particular. Murph did become the poster boy for the Jim O'Brien era as a stretch four, known for shooting more threes than layups.

Jim O'Brien - Flamed out with the Pacers after players tuned out his demanding ways and fans turned on his style of play. Most forget that JOB did an admirable job of taking over the toxic mess and resetting expectations for the locker room that helped the Pacers rebuild.

Rick Carlisle - Was mercifully let go when the team lost its way and needed a ground-up reboot.

Darrell Armstrong - Played for the Pacers on Carlisle's last team before Jim O'Brien took over in 2007.

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