Subscribe
Follow Us
INGLEWOOD, CA — The Los Angeles Clippers dropped their third game in a row on Thursday's NBA trade deadline, this time against Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, and the Indiana Pacers. But the opposing team once again came away impressed with the Intuit Dome.
Still in its first few months of existence, the Clippers' new arena has taken everyone from fans and media to players and team personnel by surprise. Thursday night was no different with the Pacers in town.
Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam gets real on Intuit Dome
Pascal Siakam scored a game-high 33 points with 11 rebounds on 13-of-19 shooting from the field in the Pacers' 119-112 win over the Clippers.
After the game, Siakam was asked about what it was like playing in the new Intuit Dome given his big night.
“Yeah, it was different,” Pascal Siakam told ClutchPoints. “First time was fun though. The atmosphere was different. Like, seeing the Wall or whatever they call that, the screens. It's a whole thing. It's impressive. Even going down to the locker room here, like everything is just great. It was a great atmosphere and obviously we got the win, so we'll take that.”
Tyrese Haliburton bounced back from a scoreless game in Portland, finishing with 14 points, three rebounds, eight assists, and four steals. He seemed to have the most fun on the night, routinely coming up with pick sixes and laughing after throwing down dunks or drilling deep three-pointers.
Haliburton was a big fan of the Clippers' new Intuit Dome, likening it to the college atmosphere that Steve Ballmer wanted to replicate.
“Fire,” Tyrese Haliburton added. “It was fire. Mr. Ballmer's done a great job of putting together a state of the art arena. I think the visuals are super cool, looking at it, the player intros, all the stuff. No question its the best arena in the NBA. It's really fun to play here. Unfortunate part is we only get to play here once a year, but the environment is really cool. I love the college feel, the Wall. It gives me a really good college feel. And I'm sure when these guys get in the playoffs, it's going to really be rocking in here. So it's really cool.”
While the arena is new and full of futuristic feeling technology, there are rare times where things don't work according to plan.
On Thursday night, portions of the Halo board were malfunctioning, displaying an empty blue space where both teams comparable team stats usually sit. Haliburton noticed an odd blank space, and thought it could've been filled with team stats for the Clippers and Pacers. It just so happened that the Halo board, like any form of technology can a any moment, was dealing with some technical difficulties.
“I was a little confused though, there's all that space up there, and I felt like they could've been more stats shown, like team stats.”
“There usually are team stats there, I think it was just malfunctioning a bit,” ClutchPoints responded.
“Yeah, like I didn't get to see, I wanted to know what we were shooting from the three-point line, from the free throw line. At one point, I was looking up there and it was just individual stats and then replay of the game. I'm sure it was just off a little bit. Yeah, but there's a lot of real estate up there to really put whatever.
“They did a cool job. I think the whole thing of being able to go to the concessions stand with the Face ID is really cool. It's the future, and yeah I want to be able to come here for something that's not basketball and be able to sit in the stands and enjoy something. But really cool to be a part of and I look forward to playing here the rest of my career.”
Tyrese Haliburton on his first game in the Intuit Dome:
“Fire. Fire. Mr. Ballmer's done a great job of putting together a state of the art arena. The visuals are super cool. No question its the best arena in the NBA… I love the college feel of The Wall. When these guys get in… pic.twitter.com/JxLOUUdneD
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) February 7, 2025
Haliburton and the Pacers continue their road trip in Los Angeles when they take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday afternoon. Newly acquired Luka Doncic is not expected to play in that game as he is still recovering from a strained left calf.