Monday Bolts – 11.24.14

Thunder players are sad: “Fourteen games into a marathon NBA season — less than 18 percent of the way through a six-month journey — it felt far more like a team that had just been eliminated in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals than one that had just suffered a random mid-November 94-92 loss to the Nets. Jeremy Lamb moved first. He headed for the door but was swarmed by reporters before he could reach it. “Stay together,” a dejected Lamb repeated in a murmur, head aimed at the floor, searching for answers that continue to elude his team. For 10 minutes, Reggie Jackson sat motionless at his locker, ice packs on his knees and a glazed look in his eyes. He eventually made his way to the shower, then emerged minutes later, blurting out “so close” multiple times to no one in particular.”

KD and Russ are practicing (yay). But so is Bro Mitch McGary: Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook — the most important and identifiable quantities on the Thunder roster — are slowly nearing a return. But so is an unknown one with a yet to be determined role. Rookie forward Mitch McGary is back practicing with the Thunder after missing the last six weeks with a foot fracture. McGary was impressive early in camp, putting together a pair of eye-opening performances in the Blue and White scrimmage and the preseason opener in Denver. But he suffered the injury against the Nuggets and missed a large chunk of his first NBA training camp.

Playoffs? “This team is turning into lovable losers, and all that these early failures have done is move this season closer to the brink. Sunday night’s 91-86 defeat to Golden State inside Chesapeake Energy Arena was the Thunder’s sixth straight loss. It dropped OKC to 3-12, seven out in the loss column for the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff seed. The hole is only getting deeper. The postseason is in peril. The Finals are a fantasy. This sour patch has forced even Brooks to scrap his one-game-at-a-time approach and begin doing some quick math. He’s admittedly now pondering this team’s postseason chances. “I’ve been putting some thought into that lately,” Brooks said. “The way I look at it, it’s sets us up for a heck of a ride during the regular season. I’ve always been a positive guy.”

Marreese Speights doesn’t like Perk. #SHADEA Thunder player leads the NBA in something! “Jackson, who has been forced to play huge minutes because of Russell Westbrook’s broken right hand, entered the game leading the NBA in minutes played. He played 36 minutes on Sunday night.”