Source: USA TODAY

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.

“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 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 San Antonio 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-of-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.”

Copyright © 2012 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

By Dave Birkett, The Detroit Free Press

Nick Fairley is in trouble again. This time, for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol and attempting to elude police.

Fairley, the Detroit Lions’ first-round pick a year ago, was arrested for the second time since the beginning of April early this morning by Alabama State Troopers, according to Fox10 in Mobile, Ala.

Fairley was arrested for misdemeanor possession of marijuana last month, also in Mobile, and is awaiting a July arraignment on that charge.

“We are aware of the reports and are in the process of gathering more information,” the Lions said in a statement today.

Fairley’s agent, Brian Overstreet, did not return a phone call seeking comment, and a call to Fairley’s cell phone said the number has been disconnected.

Fairley was arrested shortly after 1 a.m. today, according to the report. He was charged with DUI and attempting to elude police, but troopers told the station Fairley also was ticketed for reckless driving, no proof of insurance and having an open container.

He posted $1,750 bond and was released shortly after 9 a.m.

The Lions have made constant headlines for all the wrong reasons this offseason.

Along with Fairley’s two arrests, running back Mikel Leshoure was cited twice for possession of marijuana in Berrien County and offensive tackle Johnny Culbreath was arrested in South Carolina for possession of marijuana.

Receiver Titus Young also has not been allowed at the Lions’ organized team activities since he sucker-punched Louis Delmas at a workout earlier this month.

The Lions took all four players in the 2011 draft.

Lions coach Jim Schwartz downplayed the perception that his team has a discipline problem last week.

“We’re not playing any games right now,” Schwartz said. “I think that a lot of times when people focus on some things about a team you can miss other things that a team does and we’ll just keep working harder to do better next time.”

Kicker Jason Hanson, meanwhile, said the off-field problems have been “a case of, I think, young guys just being dumb.”

“I don’t want to speak for the guys that got busted for their stuff, it’s just too easy to be immature,” Hanson said. “I’m sorry, but it’s always been that problem. But it’s just you’re young and it’s the NFL and it’s big time and you’ve got money and it’s just too easy to be stupid.

“All those guys I know and they work hard, so hopefully the guys that have influence on them, ’cause the kicker can’t slap them on the head, say, ‘What are you doing? You don’t want to throw away your talent with your position,’ and (this is) just some slight hiccups for them. But it’s not a hiccup for the team. I know all the guys are just like, ‘You guys are idiots, let’s go.’ Like I said, it’s good. There haven’t been distractions, but those are good players that are messing up and they just need to (straighten up).”

Copyright © 2012 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

Izod IndyCar Series points leader Will Power was taken out of the 96th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday when Mike Conway’s car spun in front of his on lap 80.

Conway’s No. 14 Foyt Racing Dallara/Honda slid into the wall on the exit in front of Power’s No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet. Conway had been struggling after exiting from a bad pit stop.

“That’s what started it,” said A.J. Foyt, Conway’s team owner. “He slid in and hit my fuel man and knocked him over, and that’s what broke the front wing. We had a helluva run going.

“To win this Indy 500, everything’s got to fall your way. One little thing goes wrong like that, it’s bad.”

Both drivers emerged from their cars safely, though both were knocked out of the race. Power entered with a 45-point lead over teammate Helio Castroneves, who was nearly taken out by the crash.

A wayward wheel from Conway’s car bounced off the top of the right front tire on Castroneves’ car. But the three-time Indy 500 winner was able to continue.

Not as lucky was Ryan Hunter-Reay.

On lap 123 of a scheduled 200, Hunter-Reay’s car slowed, eventually sending him to the pits and out of the race with a suspension failure in the rear of the No. 28 Andretti Autosport Chevrolet.

“Something broke,” Hunter-Reay said over the radio. “It felt like something went bad in the suspension in the back.”

Team owner Michael Andretti acknowledged that a broken part in the car’s rear suspension caused the end of the day for Hunter-Reay, who started third. In-car cameras showed the car suddenly jerking to the left, with Hunter-Reay wrestling it back to control and into the pits.

With 12 laps to go, another American hopeful, Marco Andretti, knocked himself out of the race in a single-car crash. Andretti was setting the pace for much of the early part of the race.

Both Lotus-powered entries were black-flagged early in the race for being too off the pace. Simona de Silvestro and Jean Alesi parked their HVM Racing cars on the 11th lap after top speeds of 205 mph and 203 mph, respectively.

The leaders were posting top laps of better than 220 mph.

Copyright © 2012 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.