INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Let’s talk about The Wall, the most unique feature of the state-of-the-art $2 billion Intuit Dome, which opened Wednesday night with its first regular-season NBA game – an LA Clippers overtime loss to the Phoenix Suns .

The Wall is a steep, multi-row seating area with 51 rows behind the basket, adjacent to the visitors’ bench, that is unlike anything in other professional hoop arenas.

“I stared at it the whole time,” Suns star Kevin Durant said. “The seats go straight up. The sound is different from that vantage point. It will be a difficult road environment for anyone who comes in here.”

The Wall did its part in the pursuit of victory. Durant missed two free throws in the fourth quarter in front of the delirious fans, though the Suns eventually prevailed in OT, 116-113, to spoil the first game.

The section was the brainchild of Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, who had significant input into the building’s design. The fact is that there are provisions for sitting in that area. It’s for Clipper fans only. No one is allowed to wear the opponent’s shirt. The cost is $1,299 for the 41 home games, or a relatively inexpensive $32 per game.

If you’re worth $124.8 billion, you can afford to make those calls. Ballmer bought the team for $2 billion in 2014 when the NBA opted to expel then-owner Donald Sterling from the club. According to SporticoThe most recent NBA valuations put the franchise at $4.56 billion, and that was before opening the new arena.

Suns owner Mat Ishbia sat courtside and made his own assessment of the replacement of the 32-year-old Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix.

Ballmer said earlier this year that fans occupying the 4,500-seat Wall will have to follow the team on social media and buy a jersey. “You’re not going to sit there if you’re not really on our team,” he said.

The concept may take some getting used to. Although the Clippers announced an attendance of 18,300, there were plenty of empty seats in the building and a good number of them in The Wall, which starts with three sections at floor level and expands to five sections further down.

It is not for the faint of heart as it is about a 30 row walk to the rafters.

Ballmer has placed sensors in seats throughout the building and says he will award prizes to those who cheer the loudest.

‘The Wall is crazy. That’s our sixth man,” Clipper coach Ty Lue said. “Those guys are loud. They are in the game. They made KD (Durant) miss two free throws and he was on a roll. We need that every night.”

The game marked a passage in the team’s history in Buffalo/San Diego/Los Angeles. It was the first time in all those decades that the franchise played in its own building. The first three buildings the Clippers occupied – the Auditorium in Buffalo, the San Diego Sports Arena and the LA Sports Arena – were all publicly owned.

For the past 25 seasons, they shared what is now Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles with the NBA Lakers and NHL Kings. That building is privately owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group, which controls the hockey team. The Lakers are tenants there.

Now the Clippers have their own basketball building with those steep sight lines.

“It was great to play in this building,” new Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said. “The crowd was great. It just feels like everything is so well thought out. The changing rooms, the field and the fans are right on top of you. The video boards. It’s a great arena.”

Ballmer wanted a building with the comfort of watching a game from his own living room, with nice seating, easy access to food and bathrooms. He gave the architects, AECOM, this challenge:

“Can you build that for 18,000 people?”

Eventually he built an arena with 1,400 toilets. “I really hate it when people have to wait online,” he said recently 60 minutes. “It gets frustrating. I want them to come back and watch the match.”

The Wall was the added wrinkle.

“I loved the building,” Durant said. “I like The Wall they have. It’s insane. I know it will be wild in the playoffs. I always enjoy it when new locations appear in our competition; it sets the standard for what will happen later. Steve has done a great job with this franchise.”