All-Star Weekend Was a Mixed Bag, but Sunday Was a Slam Dunk at Intuit Dome

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- I spent all three days of NBA All-Star Weekend inside the Intuit Dome, the $2 billion home of the Los Angeles Clippers, and I walked away with two very different feelings. 

The first two nights were a letdown in terms of atmosphere, but Sunday night reminded everyone why basketball is the greatest sport in the world.

Friday and Saturday Felt Empty

Let me be blunt about it. 

Friday night's Rising Stars event was borderline embarrassing from an attendance standpoint, with reports suggesting the arena was only about a third full and large sections of the building completely empty. 

Even the courtside seats behind the benches were vacant for most of the night, and the broadcast had to use tight camera angles to hide the gaps. 

The basketball itself was solid, and Clippers rookie Yanic Konan Niederhauser turned heads with a team-high 11 points and multiple alley-oop dunks in the semifinal, but the energy just was not there.

Saturday was not much better. 

The 3-Point Contest, Shooting Stars, and Slam Dunk Contest all played out in front of a sparse crowd that felt more like a corporate event than a basketball celebration. 

The early 2 p.m. PT start time on Valentine's Day did not help, and entry-level tickets starting at $400 with Wall-area seats going for around $1,000 priced out the everyday fans who would have actually brought the noise.

Sunday Night Changed Everything

Then came Sunday, and the new USA vs. World format delivered in a big way. 

The three-team round-robin tournament brought out real competition, with the first three games all decided by one possession, including an overtime thriller and a De'Aaron Fox buzzer-beater.

And then there was Kawhi Leonard.

The Clippers star, added as a commissioner's pick, put on one of the most electric stretches of basketball this season. 

Playing in his home arena, Leonard erupted for 31 points in a single 12-minute game on 11-of-13 shooting and 6-of-7 from three while "M-V-P" chants poured down from every section. 

Leonard is averaging 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game this season for the 26-28 Clippers, but Sunday night was something different. Even Victor Wembanyama could not slow him down.

The Wall Showed Up All Weekend

While the rest of the arena struggled to fill seats on Friday and Saturday, The Wall was packed and loud every single night. 

The Swell members, who make up the always-standing, always-cheering section, had to wait in line as early as 5:30 in the morning just to be admitted to each event. 

They booed Luka Dončić every time he touched the ball on Sunday and showered Leonard with love during his historic performance.

Clipper fans also rallied around Konan Niederhauser, their rookie first-round pick out of Penn State, who is averaging 3.7 points and 2.3 rebounds in 9.0 minutes per game. 

Every time he threw down an alley-oop during Rising Stars, The Wall erupted like it was a playoff game. 

For a fanbase that has endured a brutal start to the season before clawing back to 26-28, the weekend was a reminder that this community is not going anywhere.

Intuit Dome's technology, lighting, and, most importantly, space to move around, were all on display over the course of the weekend, with plenty of workrooms, accommodations for talent, and areas for NBC and the NBA to do their thing. 

But that was never going to be the issue. 

Intuit Dome was made for events like this. It was on the NBA to figure out how to utilize it and draw the fans into it (no pun intended).

Sunday proved the product can still work when the format is right and the players buy in.

The first two nights proved the league still has work to do making these events feel like they belong to the fans. 

But if you were inside the Intuit Dome on Sunday evening, you know the truth: when this building is rocking, there is nothing like it in the league.