Bay Area Sports Blogging

Tonight marks the first time the trio of Mike Dunleavy Jr., Troy Murphy and Ike Diogu has come back to play in Oakland after the major eight-player trade last season.

Murphy and Diogu will probably get booed a little bit if the fans can even remember their faces. All the hate and disappointment stored in the hearts of every Warriors' fan from far and wide is directed solely at Mike Dunleavy Jr.

Drafted 3rd in the 2002 NBA Draft over players such as Amare Stoudamire, Caron Butler, and Carlos Boozer, he was supposed to the Warriors' saviour. Instead, he was pretty much a bust. Fans were disgusted with his passive play and non-aggression. Too many times, Dunleavy would float around the three point line, throwing up wide open shots that would clank off the rim or miss the net altogether.

Sure, he would have a bust out game with 30+ points or 20+ rebounds. Only the next 4-5 games, he would post up triple single games. It's not just his play that frustrates fans. It's also his tendency to blame the system or his teammates style of play to the press. Matters weren't helped at all when the Warriors front office awarded him a huge contract extension even though he played like crap the majority of the time.

This season, Dunleavy seems to have put it all together averaging 17.1 pts, 5.3 rebs, 3.1 asts on 49.5 FG%, 42.9 3PT% and 84.0 FT% shooting as the starting shooting guard. Yes. Shooting guard.

With Dunleavy at SG, the starting lineup of the Pacers are very tall--6'9" at SG/SF and 6'11" at PF/C. You would think with all these tall players, the team would be a plodding half court to half court team. You would be wrong. The Pacers are a high scoring run-n-gun team averaging 103.1 points per game. They also rebound very well so the Warriors will need to be on their game to win tonight.

Starting: Davis, Ellis, Jackson, Harrington, Biedrins
Bench: Barnes, Azubuike, O'Bryant, Wright, Hudson (inj), Croshere, Perovic, Pietrus, Belinelli, Watson

Starting: Tinsley, Dunleavy Jr., Granger, O'Neal, Foster
Bench: Diener, Rush, Daniels, Diogu, Murphy, Graham, Owens, Williams