One of the many, many never-before-seen features inside the Los Angeles Clippers’ new Intuit Dome brought on by billionaire owner Steve Ballmer this season was something called ‘The Wall.’ It’s not an actual wall, but a fan section behind one basket specifically designed to alter the opposing team’s free-throw percentage on that side of the floor.
The steep section behind the basket consists of 51 rows of seats adjacent to the visiting team’s bench. Fans in the section are forbidden from cheering on the away team, and the Supporters Section in the area is reserved for the most loyal Clippers fans who are expected to stand during the entire game. Season passes in the section are sold at a more accessible price point than other lower-bowl tickets in the arena.
Having a specific section for your diehard fans with the idea that they will throw off shooters on that end of the floor is a great idea, but it’s hard to imagine it being anything beyond just that, an idea.
As it turns out, The Wall actually did its job this season.
The Wall at the Intuit Dome did its job for the Clippers in year one. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Sportico ran the numbers in great detail and found that Clippers’ home opponents shot 74.8% from the free-throw line during the regular season, the second-lowest rate in the league behind visitors of the Houston Rockets. Shooting against The Wall section, opponents shot 73.4% from the charity stripe. For comparison, visitors of the Intuit Dome shot 76.1% from the other free-throw line on the floor.
As Sportico notes, the 3.3% disparity between opponent foul shooting in the Intuit Dome and the average NBA arena is not abnormal. Comparable declines have been seen each season for more than a decade.
However, the 4.7% dip between free throws made against The Wall and the average visitor’s free-throw percentage across the league is quite stunning.
“Comparing percentages on one end of a court with overall percentage isn’t apples to apples, but a larger drop in accuracy has only happened once in any home arena since 2000: when opponents visiting the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2014 made 69.8% of free throws from both ends combined, a wacky 5.8% below the league average,” Sportico explained.
The Wall didn’t solely impact free-throw shooting, either.
While road teams in the Intuit Dome had the second-lowest 3-point shooting percentage (33.5%) in the league, on The Wall’s side of the floor, that number dipped to 32.9%.
It’s almost as if this Ballmer fella with a net worth of over $115 billion knew what he was doing!
