In the short victory (126-122) against the Nuggets, the Clippers were able to count on a major advantage, free throws. They thus signed a very correct 22/27 (81.5% success) on the penalty line while Nikola Jokic and his gang left quite a few points on the way, at 10/19 (52.6% success).
But Denver isn't the first team to have struggled to convert shots at the Intuit Dome, with the Sixers (11/19), Raptors (12/21) and Warriors (9/19) doing so. being also shown to be clumsy…
Steve Ballmer wanted a noisy room, with stands close to the field, and in particular a “Wall” of Clippers supporters behind one of the baskets, the aim of which is to distract opposing shooters from free throws. An atmosphere, close to those we can see in the NCAA, which seems to be bearing fruit.
More than one point “won” per match
Since the start of the season, the Clippers' opponents have only shot 72.3% of free throws at the Intuit Dome, the lowest rate recorded since 2015 (Portland).
Above all, it is much less than the success rate of the Clippers' opponents at the Crypto.com Arena in recent years, with 78.1% success in 2021/22, 77% in 2022/23 and 77.4% in 2023/24.
Of course, we are only a quarter of the way through the season and this success rate of opponents has time to increase, while James Harden and his gang have only played 11 games at home.
Nevertheless, at the start of the campaign, the free throw skills of the Clippers' opponents fell by more than 4 percentage points at the Intuit Dome, compared to their averagewhich means they leave more than one point on the line. And in a league that seeks the slightest advantage, even minimal, it ends up being important…
