OKC Thunder: Billy Donovan and Rick Carlisle, former NBA teammates and long-time friends, meet as first round competitors

Billy Donovan coached his first NBA playoff game on Saturday night. By Sunday morning, he was planning his first in-series adjustments, a vast change from college ball, where the postseason road is paved with a bunch of single elimination games against random opponents.

This is an unfamiliar stage for Donovan. But his first taste of playoff life is coming against a familiar counterpart. Rick Carlisle coaches the Mavericks. He's one of the league's most respected minds. In 2011, he led a veteran-laden Dallas team through the West and past LeBron James for an unlikely title.

But back before the 1987 season, he was just a 28-year-old free agent preparing for his first training camp with the Rick Pitino-led New York Knicks. Carlisle earned a spot on the roster. So did Billy Donovan, an undersized rookie who starred at Providence under Pitino.

But that year, neither played much.