Isaac Baldizan/NBAE/Getty Images MIAMI — The Miami Heat are absolutely terrifying closing out games. That’s something my colleague Matt Moore said Tuesday night as the Heat steamrolled past the Mavericks in the final five

Glenn James/NBAE/Getty Images I think you would be completely shocked if you rewound three years ago and watched the rookie version of Russell Westbrook running the Thunder compared to the current version that was

Sam Presti did a long interview with The Sports Animal in Oklahoma City and covered a lot of ground without saying a whole lot. You know, the Presti way. But he was asked about

Ronald Martinez/NBAE/Getty Images In all truth, the Thunder’s 2011-12 roster will look almost identical to the 2010-11 one that went to the Western Conference Finals. Most of the moving and shaking was decided at

Isaac Baldizon/NBAE/Getty Images With all the talk about Kendrick Perkins lately, I figured it would be smart to get the perspective of someone that knows him as a player as well as anyone. I

I defined ultimate (realistic) success back in October as this: “The Thunder wins a gritty 7-game series in the quarters, then in the Western Finals, comes up just short against the Lakers in six.

Ronald Martinez/NBAE/Getty Images I’ve spoken my peace about Russell Westbrook 20 times over during this postseason. While some were calling him a ballhog, a selfish player or an egotistical maniac, I saw a guy