SAN ANTONIO
–
If the lengthy layoff for the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder
calmed anyone's nerves, it wasn't evident as the NBA's top teams in the
West practiced for the final time before tonight's start to the
conference finals.
By Jerome Miron, PresswireRussell Westbrook, left, and Kevin Durant, right, hope series victories against the Mavericks and Lakers have prepared them to face the Spurs for the right to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals.
By Jerome Miron, Presswire
Russell
Westbrook, left, and Kevin Durant, right, hope series victories against
the Mavericks and Lakers have prepared them to face the Spurs for the
right to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals.Sponsored Links
"At
the beginning of the series you always have uncertainty. You have
appropriate fear, you respect your opponent," Spurs sixth man Manu
Ginobili said Sunday morning. "You practice, you plan, and then you see
what comes out of that. Of course there is excitement."
The Thunder returned to the site of perhaps their most glaring regular-season failure, where Spurs All-Star point guard Tony Parker put 42 on them in a 107-106 win in the 23rd game of the season, and a nervous energy prevailed.
"I'm very nervous. Nervous is good," Thunder coach Scott Brooks
said after a morning shootaround at San Antonio's AT&T Center. "If
you're not nervous you don't care about what you do — and we care about
what we do. We have a great opportunity."
The
Thunder face a Spurs team that has not lost in the postseason, is riding
an 18-game winning streak dating to April 12 and shared the best
regular-season home record with the Miami Heat.
"The crowd is going to be into it. It's going to be tough to play," Thunder All-Star forward Kevin Durant said. "But on the road is where we all come together more as a group and hopefully we get it done."
"We're looking forward to the opportunity to go for a championship," Durant added. "We have to take advantage of the moment."
Opening on the road, however, will be a test. In the 2010 first-round loss to the Los Angeles Lakers and last year's Western Finals series loss to the Dallas Mavericks, the Thunder opened on the road and were defeated.
"We're
all competitive guys," Durant said. "We know what they've done. We
respect what they've done, but that was in the past. They've been
playing well lately.
"We're 8-1 in the playoffs, as well. None of the guys are in awe. We respect what they've done. They've built a dynasty."
Stephen Jackson is in his second go-round of the Spurs' dynasty, coming to the team midseason from the Milwaukee Bucks. After a week of "semi-games and scrimmages," he was raring to go.
"I'm
not saying we didn't respect our other opponents, but we definitely
respect these guys," Jackson said. "They're a great young team, a hungry
team, a very talented team. I don't think we would want it any other
way" than to play the No. 2 seed.
"I'm excited it's today."
Thunder guard James Harden
tells USA TODAY Sports the key to the series will be limiting the kind
of lane penetration that Parker is known for, and ditching the
nervousness.
The last time Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook
took the floor at San Antonio's AT&T Center, he played reluctant
foil to Parker. He watched the more veteran star slash the lane, nail
uncontested runners and kick the ball to wide-open teammates on the
perimeter.
Westbrook fumed and clenched his
fists in frustration, finishing with 18 points on 8-for-16 shooting with
six rebounds and six assists to Parker's 42 points, nine assists and
two steals.
"Their penetration is the key. We
have to protect the paint and not let them get into the paint to kick
out threes," Harden said.
"I think we're all
nervous, as far as reaching this point again. I'm going to be nervous
until I check in the game. It's a good nervous. We've got a sense of
urgency."
Ginobili, because of injuries, has
not played against the Thunder this season and said it would be "kind of
awkward" to get his first shot in the conference finals.
He had the company line down pat about the challenge the Thunder provide.
"We
both deserve it to be here. We were the two best teams in the West for
the whole season," Ginobili said. "What they're doing is impressive.
Their best players are 23, 22 and already have played in the conference
finals. You've got to give those guys credit, what they can accomplish
in the future is enormous.
"Of course we
respect them. … We know how talented they are. … We're going to try to
use what we have — our experience, our depth — and try to put them in
trouble."
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