Players Analyze Heartbreaking Losses

The Clippers have lost so many winnable games this season, the disappointments are starting to blend together. They know they should have a better record than 13-29.

Despite the team’s low win total, veteran Sean Rooks said the Clippers are off to a good start considering that most of the players and coaching staff came together in training camp.

“We’re all new people coming together, whether we were the L.A. Clippers or the L.A. Lakers, or any other team . . . when you assemble a team like this, you are going to struggle,” Rooks said. “The fact that we have won 13 games and we should have won a handful more is good. But the fact remains that we have been together only less than half a season and we’re already at the point where we are with so many young guys. That says a lot about the Clippers’ future.”

Point guard Jeff McInnis said the Clippers’ high number of heartbreaking losses is the result of poor execution down the stretch.

“You can play into thinking that you’re going to lose tight games but we aren’t doing that,” McInnis said. “We have just been losing our aggressiveness at the end of games. We don’t take shots we normally will take and I’m the main one guilty of that. My mother even noticed that.”

*

Since being acquired in a trade from Washington on Nov. 29, backup big man Cherokee Parks has filled in nicely at both center and power forward. Coach Alvin Gentry loves Parks’ versatility and that is a key reason why Parks has stayed in the league so long.

“I’ve been in the league six years and this is my fifth team,” Parks said. “I have started a whole season; I’ve played no minutes for 20 games straight; I’ve played 30 minutes for 30 games straight. The one thing I have learned is that you have to stay ready. . . . I know there are a lot of ball games and you have to be ready to step up when you get a chance to produce.”

*

The Clippers did not have a formal practice Monday, but the players did go through conditioning tests at L.A. Southwest College. The Clippers do not play again until Wednesday when they face the Seattle SuperSonics at Staples Center.