Dunleavy won’t miss the new ball either

Not that the NBA’s new basketball didn’t have a lot of admirers but the coaches didn’t like it either.

“I’m a much better shooter with the old one,” Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy said before Monday night’s game.

However, Dunleavy said the new ball didn’t cut him.

“All those guys who got hurt? They got hurt passing the ball. You didn’t have to worry about the guys who were shooting....

“I never said it, but if you bounce the [new] ball down on the logo a few times, it will go sideways a bunch.... I said, ‘You have to play like you’re playing at the old Boston Garden.’ ”

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How impressive were the Lakers in beating the Spurs on Sunday night? Even the Clippers were impressed.

“I think they match up well,” Dunleavy said. “I think their [Laker] centers’ length bothered [Tim] Duncan. [Andrew] Bynum and Kwame Brown did a good job there.

“But I thought the biggest key was the turnovers. Every time their guards tried to split pick-and-rolls, they turned the ball over and it led to easy baskets.”

How much of what the Lakers did is applicable to the Clippers?

“They’re more athletic than we are,” Dunleavy said.

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Corey Maggette, who bruised his left knee on the recent trip, sat out the game, as did center Chris Kaman, who was ill.

“He either has a virus or food poisoning,” Dunleavy said of Kaman. “He was at the doctor’s today. And Tim Thomas had a bandage on his right hand [from a bruise suffered while dunking], so we have a few issues.”

Dunleavy, on the prospect of the 76ers trading Allen Iverson: “I hope they make the deal with [a team in] the East, to be honest with you.”

mark.heisler@latimes.com