The Nets will probably be welcoming back a friend -- and an old Knicks adversary -- to their bench tomorrow when Alonzo Mourning is expected to join them.

Mourning was scheduled to join the team for its pre-playoff dinner last night, and Nets coach Lawrence Frank said he "didn't want to put words in (Mourning's) mouth" but that he expected Mourning to be on the sideline for Game 1 against the Knicks at Continental Airlines Arena.

A friend of Mourning's said yesterday the former All-Star, who retired from basketball due to kidney disease in November, had returned from Miami to New Jersey on Tuesday and was planning on being at the game.

"It's 95 percent sure," the friend said. "It's just hard for him to watch and not play."