Russell Westbrook's 43 points was not enough to lead the Thunder past Miami in Game 4 on Tuesday night in Miami./AP Photo

Just a week ago, Oklahoma City had won its fifth consecutive playoff game to take a 1-0 series lead in the NBA Finals.

The Thunder had taken four straight against the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals and disposed of the Miami Heat in Game 1 by 11 points, 105-94.

Now they’ve lost three straight to Miami by a total of 16 points.  The Heat beat them in Game 4 on Tuesday night, 104-98, despite having a 17-point, first-quarter lead and Russell Westbrook going bonkers with 43 points.

If the Thunder lose Thursday night in Miami, their season will end on a four-game skid just San Antonio’s did at their hands.

Wouldn’t that be ironic.

Can OKC avoid this early of an elimination and force a Game 6 at home? Sure, but this franchise is going to through the same process great teams had to do before signing free agents to win now, not later.

The Detroit Pistons had to get through the Boston Celtics before winning back-to-back titles (1989-90). The Chicago Bulls had to get through the Pistons before winning three straight championships. (1991-93).

The Thunder’s time will come as they will learn from these 2012 finals:

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Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs have won 18 consecutive games. Will the Thunder challenge them?/AP

18 wins in a row. The San Antonio Spurs are rolling.

Unbeaten in this year’s NBA playoffs, the Spurs swept the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers to reach the Western Conference finals. They’ve been unstoppable.

They haven’t been tested, either, but that’s all about to change Sunday.

Here come the Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Spurs have the best team, but the Thunder have the two best players in the series in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in James Harden.

So make no mistake. The Spurs will lose a game in this series, but will they lose the series?

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If Oklahoma City can't find an answer for Memphis PF Zach Randolph, it will fall to the eighth-seeded Grizzlies in Sunday's Game 7./AP Photo

1-2 so far. Not good.

Chicago over Atlanta is the only conference semifinal prediction I’ve gotten right in this year’s NBA Playoffs.

Picked Boston in six games. The Celtics lost in five to the Miami Heat.

Picked the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. The two-time defending NBA champions were swept by the Dallas Mavericks.

I could see the Miami one, coming because age was going to catch Boston sooner or later, but Dallas sweeping the Lakers? The only people who picked that besides Charles Barkley (He’s been on during these playoffs) are Dallas owner Mark Cuban and his closest family members.

Everyone else went with the Lakers.

Now I picked Oklahoma City to take down Memphis in six games, but we’re going to have a deciding Game 7 today to determine who will face the Mavericks in the Western Conference finals.

Can’t see Kevin Durant having two bad games in a row so I’m pretty confident in my Thunder pick, but Memphis won’t go down easily. Got too many tough guys. The Grizzlies are more than capable of winning today.

But they won’t.

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Kobe Bryant has lead the Los Angeles Lakers to the last three NBA Finals and become more of a leader during this stretch of success. He has a chance to win a fifth NBA championship ring this year.

Let’s get it on.

The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are going to do it again. I know everyone wanted to see two-time NBA MVP LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers (for now) and Kobe Bryant go at it, but hey, seeing two teams renew their rivalry is the NBA Finals isn’t too shabby.

In 2008, the Celtics took the Lakers out in six games and in the series-clinching Game 6, they just ran them out the building with a 131-92 victory.

Two years later, the Lakers and Celtics meet again, but this time, Los Angeles comes in as the defending champs and unlike 2008, it has the home-court advantage this time.

The two teams are essentially the same from when they faced each other in 2008. You’ve got the Big 3 for Boston and Kobe Bryant is still the best player between the two teams.

 Here are the differences.

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Doc Rivers has now lead the Boston Celtics to the NBA Finals twice in the last three years. Boston won it in 2008.

Up 3-0, the Boston Celtics had the brooms in  hand and were ready to sweep the Orlando Magic.

Then the Magic got tough and took two games to make it a series.

But on Friday night, the Celtics took care of business at home and beat Orlando, 96-84, in Game 6 to advance to the NBA Finals for the second time in three seasons. In 2008, they won it all and last season, they lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals to who else, the Magic.

Boston will play the winner of the Western Conference Finals series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns.

With a 3-2 lead, the Lakers will try to close out that series in tonight’s Game 6 in Phoenix. If the Suns win, there will be a Game 7 Memorial Day in Los Angeles.

Don’t bank on eating hot dogs and watching a Game 7 Monday. Lakers should take care of business to set up a date with the Celtics.

Now back to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Here are three things we learned from this series.

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No one shot the ball as poorly as Ron Artest did last night.

Well Andrew Bynum was 0 of 5, but he’s got a bum knee. Artest seemed to have a bum brain because he took  two ill-advised shots late in the game. He shot 2 of 9 from the field, 0 of 3 from 3-point range.

However, he woke today the hero.

Artests’s put-back bucket of a Kobe Bryant air-ball, 3-pointer at the buzzer gave the Los Angeles Lakers a 103-101 home win against the Phoenix Suns in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals.

With a 3-2 series lead, the Lakers can earn their third straight trip to the NBA Finals with a win in Phoenix on Saturday night.

When watching Game 4 of the Western Conference finals tomorrow night (Tuesday) on TNT, you’ve got to check out Craig Sager’s suit.

For those who don’t know, Sager, a sideline reporter for the network out of Atlanta, wears the most outrageous stuff. I know brothers who wear ultra-bright colors and they wouldn’t be caught dead in what Sager sports.

I remember covering a Cleveland Cavaliers-Detroit Pistons playoff game in Cleveland and Sager had on a lavender suit and shoes to match. Someone said to him, “Hey, nice Gators (alligator shoes).” Sager replied, “No, it’s crocodile.” I was like Flavor Flav.

“Wooooooooooow!”

Rajon Rondo and Doc Rivers are on the same page for Boston, which is bad news for everyone else in the playoffs.

Come on David Stern.

We don’t need a break this long between playoff games. We really don’t, but then again, we’re not playing the games.

However, the time between these games is pretty ridiculous. Yo Dave, you’re better than that.

After playing Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals Tuesday, the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics won’t play Game 3 until Saturday in Boston.

Game 3 of the Western Conference finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns will be Sunday in Phoenix.

They played Game 2 Wednesday.

What amazing is after Game 3 of these two respective series, the remaining games will be played every other day as long as each series continues.

That’s even more puzzling, but I have a greater issue with the time in between Game 2 and Game 3. Each team should take advantage of the time off, though.

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Kobe Bryant is ready to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a world title.

1-for-2

That’s how I fared in predicting the Eastern Conference and Western Conference finals.

Darn Cleveland.

Like most people, I figured NBA MVP LeBron James and the Cavaliers would face the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals, but Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic defeated Cleveland in six games to come out of the East.

Denver gave the Lakers a tough series, but L.A. has too much talent, skill and Kobe Bryant is just too good to let his team fall to the Nuggets.

So here we are.

Lakers vs. Magic. Superman vs. the Black Mamba.

Not Kobe vs. LeBron, but it’s not chump change either.

Orlando has versatile big men Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu that can shoot the 3 while L.A. has a Hall of Fame coach in Phil Jackson and the best closer in Bryant.

In the end, Kobe will finally win a title without Shaquille O’Neal against the franchise that drafted O’Neal when he came out of college in 1992.

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The Los Angeles Lakers are in.

Kobe Bryant has now lead the Los Angeles Lakers to consecutive trips to the NBA Finals.

With Kobe Bryant leading the way with 35 points and 10 assists, the Lakers advanced to the NBA Finals after winning the Western Conference finals against the Denver Nuggets in six games. Los Angeles won Game 6 tonight, 119-92, in impressive fashion.

The Nuggets were game, but at the end of the day, they don’t have the overall experience to handle the pressure of this moment.

Now next season, the Nuggets will come into the year with high expectations. How they handle that will determine if they take the next and final step.

In looking forward, the Lakers will play either Cleveland or Orlando in the NBA Finals.

If Orlando wins Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals at home Saturday, L.A. will have home-court advantage in the finals against the Magic.

If Cleveland wins Game 6 at Orlando and Game 7 at home, the Cavaliers will have home-court advantage against Los Angeles. During the regular season, the Lakers were 2-0 against Cleveland, 0-2 vs. Orlando.

The NBA Finals begins Thursday, June 4.