History has not been kind to the Los Angeles Clippers. From the franchise’s very beginning, it has only been known as the little brother to the Lakers. They both may have played at the Staples Center through the years, sure, but when they played each other, it was always a home game for the team in purple and gold.
There were times when the Clippers tried to make Staples feel more like home. For example, the team covered the Lakers’ banners for every home game they’d play during the Lob City era. And, for a while, that worked. But it never lasted.
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That’s not a problem anymore. The Clippers have moved out of the Lakers’ building and into their own home — the Intuit Dome. And with the move, the Clippers have built one of the best home-court advantages in the NBA. With 30 wins at home this year, L.A. is one of four teams to win at least 30 games at home this season. The other three are the Thunder (35 wins), Cavaliers (34 wins) and Lakers (31 wins).
It’s all due in large part because of what the team aptly calls “The Wall.”
SEE THE CLIPPERS ARENA: Here’s a look at the Intuit Dome, its massive scoreboard and The Wall in photos
For those of you who might be out of the loop, The Wall is 51 rows of uninterrupted fan seating behind the opponent’s basket in the Intuit Dome. There are no ad rows. There’s no club seating. Just a bunch of rowdy Clippers fans not only cheering for their team, but heckling the heck out of their opponents.
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Only Clippers fans are allowed to sit in the section. If you’re a non-fan or you cheer for another team while you’re seated on The Wall, the Clippers might remove you from your seat. It’s that serious to them.
We’ve seen the advantage of The Wall manifest in a very specific way — at the free-throw line. Teams are legitimately shooting worse when they’re facing the Clippers’ raucous fan section.
The numbers bear it out. Sportico’s Lev Kabas pulled the numbers and discovered that opponents shoot 74.8 percent from the free-throw line against the Clippers overall, which is the second-worst in the NBA, only behind the Rockets (74 percent).
But when shooting free throws at the basket in front of The Wall? That percentage drops to 73.6 percent, which would be the lowest in the NBA and nearly a full three percent below the league average of 76.1 percent.
There’s undoubtedly some randomness involved there. But this is real. We don’t know exactly who the Clippers are fouling — LA may be just good at keeping good free-throw shooters off the free-throw line.
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But we’ve seen the Wall have clear impacts on legitimately great free-throw shooters. That list includes Kevin Durant, who is one of the greatest shooters the NBA has ever seen. Yet, here he is, clanking key free throws in the face of these Clippers’ fans early in the season.
Of course, players miss free throws sometimes. It happens. But when you’ve got someone like Kevin Durant — one of the greatest free-throw shooters ever — missing free throws in front of a sea of fans like that, it certainly feels like The Wall has an impact.
And things are only going to get louder for the playoffs. Good luck to the Clippers’ opponents. It seems they’ll need it.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: The Clippers have the best home-court advantage in the NBA because of The Wall
