“Reminded Me of a Colosseum”: Rudy Gobert Brings Up Gladiator While Discussing Clippers’ Intuit Dome

The Clippers’ new arena, the Intuit Dome, continues to leave a lasting impression on opposing players. Earlier in the season, Suns star Kevin Durant showered praise on the team for the implementation of ‘The Wall’ consisting of purely Clippers fans. Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert is the most recent NBA player to share his approval of the arena, going to the extent of comparing it to the Roman Colosseum where gladiators fought to entertain the citizens of Rome.

Following the Timberwolves’ 108-80 victory over the Clippers, Gobert levied high praise for the arena’s innovative design. He said, “It’s pretty cool. This morning I was just looking around. It reminded me of the colosseum a little bit. Like the movie Gladiator… I’m looking forward to seeing it in the playoffs with all the seats full. I think it can be pretty impressive.”

The Dome does have the grandeur of ancient Roman architecture. The engineers made the arena spacious and expansive to really exude the feeling of a grand and distinguished venue.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer strived to create a new standard for the NBA experience with the Intuit Dome. A couple of months into the season, his efforts have been recognized.

Gobert couldn’t help but correlate the arena’s infrastructure to that of the Colosseum shown in the movie, Gladiator. The vertical ascension of sections in the arena is similar to that of the Colosseum.

In the Clippers’ matchup against the Timberwolves, 15,111 fans attended the game out of the total capacity of 18,000. The empty seats left an area for intrigue within Gobert to witness the atmosphere during the NBA playoffs.

Other NBA players’ thoughts on the Intuit Dome

The Intuit Dome left an immediate impression in the first NBA game played in the arena. The Clippers’ season opener was at home against the Suns, and Devin Booker felt the impact of the team’s new arena.

The arena’s ‘The Wall’ section just behind the bucket is designed to distract opposing players during free throws. Booker became one of the first players to experience the impact of the fan-led Wall.

“I missed a free throw. I was pissed. [Kevin Durant] missed two down there, too. The sh*t might work. Hell yeah, spend $2 billion, put a wall up,” Booker said.

Booker wasn’t the only star player to speak highly of the Clippers’ new arena. Warriors star Stephen Curry heaped praise following his first experience in the Intuit Dome.

“It was first class. Great experience…The Wall was cool, messing around with those fans. Great energy. I know a lot of creativity and imagination with this building, and it seems like they executed everything top class. Even the visitors section of the locker room, everything is first class. Definitely enjoyed playing here.”

The Clippers are currently on pace to become a playoff team by the end of the season. If they stay on this trajectory, we may have seen nothing yet in terms of what is capable inside the Intuit Dome.