The Clippers' new arena is amazing, their team will struggle to live up to it

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The undisputed star of the NBA's opening week in Southern California was the Clippers' new home, the Intuit Dome.

From the giant halo screen above the field — which coach Tyronn Lue admittedly looked up at to see replays from multiple camera angles to decide whether to challenge a call — to the USB chargers and heaters on each one Seating gives you the feeling that the arena has everything the fans need. Seriously, everything. Built into these seats are controllers that allow fans to answer questions during timeouts and play games on the Halo screen to win prizes. The entire venue is cashless/app controlled and offers takeaway food. It feels like the future of arenas (still, there were more than a few empty seats on opening night, even if tickets were sold).

And then there's “The Wall” – a steep section with special seating just for Clippers fans (if you're wearing another team's gear, you'll have to move). In the middle of the wall is a loud, student-style cheering area that is never silent.

“Incredible. I loved it. I love the wall they have. It’s crazy…” Kevin Durant said. “I was staring at (the wall) the whole time, it’s not something you’re used to.”

Can the Clippers live up to their goal?

“The environment was great,” Tyronn Lue said. “Our fans were great, we would have liked to have finished it with a win, but it was a great environment.”

That feeling could be a running theme for the Clippers this season.

The arena lived up to the hype. The team it calls home appeared to be in the thick of things for most of opening night – a 116-113 overtime loss to Phoenix in a game in which Los Angeles led by 10 with six minutes left in the fourth quarter lay.

There were times when the Clippers looked worthy of their new crib, most notably when James Harden took on Houston Harden in the third period, when he scored 16 of his 29 points on the night. But that's a lot to ask of the 35-year-old, and on the night Harden had as many turnovers as assists (eight each), looked tired down the stretch, and while he had clutch shovels, he also had clutch errors.

“My game needs to be a lot better,” Harden said. “So I saw a lot of really good things in our group. I think everyone played well and the great thing is that we can improve. So that’s definitely a positive thing.”

The Clippers focused on the positive, talking about playing hard, rebounding and more, but the reality is that this will be James Harden's show for the first few weeks of the season until the team's other star can take the court (reportedly still weeks away).

“We need him to be special until Kawhi gets back,” Lue said of Harden.

Without Leonard — and perhaps even with him — the Clippers appear to be a team closer to rebuilding in a year or two than challenging Oklahoma City, Dallas and Denver at the top of the West this season. (Except the Clippers don't control their own first-round pick until 2030, so a traditional rebuild is off the table.)

This season's Clippers are a team with no margin for error – in a West that will have plenty of teams jostling for a postseason berth – and they fail to turn the ball over on 19.5% of their possessions (almost every one). fourth game). Field) or 8 of 29 (27.6%) shooting from 3.

If fans in The Wall and Clippers Nation want the glass half full, there's an argument: They'll get Leonard back, they'll shoot better from three, Ivica Zubac is underrated (21 points and nine rebounds), Norman Powell looked good (17 points), and this was an overtime loss for a talented Suns team that could be in the top four in the West this season. It was opening night, when teams are generally a bit sloppy – both the Clippers and Suns were at it for much of the game – and things can turn around.

However, there was a feeling on opening night that the Intuit Dome was good enough, but the Clippers weren't – and that trend will continue throughout the season.