Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker was left furious after missing a free throw in front of ‘The Wall’ at the LA Clippers’ new $2billion arena.
The visiting Suns pulled off a 116-113 overtime victory in the regular-season debut of the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California on Wednesday night.
The arena has been hosting concerts since August, but this was the first game in the more than $2bn vision of Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.
Fans streamed in through doors using facial recognition while a double-sided halo board showed photos, videos, statistics and more.
But the main feature is ‘The Wall’, a sprawling vertical structure behind one basket filled with dedicated fans picked by the team.
Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker was left furious after missing a free throw in front of ‘The Wall’
‘The Wall’ (right) is a sprawling vertical structure behind one basket filled with dedicated fans
The atmosphere is raucous and certainly affected the shooting ability of the Suns throughout the game.
They were 8 of 14 from the free-throw line facing ‘The Wall’ in the fourth quarter, with star man Kevin Durant uncharacteristically missing twice.
Speaking after the game, Booker was left to rue his own miss. He said: ‘I missed a free throw, man. I was p***ed.
‘Think K (Durant) missed two down there, too, so that s*** might work.’
The Suns recovered in overtime, however, and made all 10 of their free throws to emerge victorious.
The Suns pulled off a 116-113 victory in the regular-season debut of the new Intuit Dome
‘You spend $2 billion, put a wall up,’ Booker added. ‘They didn’t completely do their job.’
The Clippers were one of three tenants of the crypto.com Arena, sharing space with the Lakers and the Kings. Now they’ve got their own address.
The Intuit Dome is in an area that’s exploding with sports and entertainment.
It’s less than a mile from Sofi Stadium – where the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers call home – and The Kia Forum, which hosts concerts and used to be home to the Lakers.
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