Booker shines for Suns
| PHOENIX SUNS | SAN ANTONIO SPURS |
| 108 | 105 |
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker may want to look into making a real estate purchase in Mexico City or at least find a way to make sure the NBA schedules his team to play more often south of the border.
Who could blame Booker for his affinity for this place after the 20-year old scored 39 points for the second straight game in Mexico while leading the Suns to a 108-105 victory over the San Antonio Spurs at the Mexico City Arena yesterday morning (Singapore time) as part of the NBA Global Games series.
The sellout crowd of 20,532 made this the highest-attended NBA game ever in Mexico.
It was the fifth regular-season NBA game played south of the border. P.J. Tucker hit two free-throws with 4.6 seconds to play for the final points.
Booker scored 10 points in the final quarter as Phoenix surged from behind, lost the lead and then outlasted the Spurs in the final seconds.
Danny Green missed a three-pointer with 6.9 seconds remaining that would have given the Spurs the lead.
Tucker calmly poured in two free-throws to push the Phoenix advantage to 108-105.
Phoenix fouled Pau Gasol with 3.7 left to keep San Antonio from shooting a three-pointer to have a chance to tie the game. Gasol missed both free-throws, and Dragan Bender corralled the rebound for the Suns.
Booker also scored 39 points in the Suns' 113-108 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday in the first of the two-game series in Mexico City.
"We took a loss earlier in the week and, from that, we knew we had things to work on to be able to stay with the Spurs," Booker said.
"I just wanted to give the people of Mexico City a show - they deserve that for all the support they give our team."
San Antonio got a career-high 38 points from Kawhi Leonard, who scored in double figures in his 72nd straight game.
The San Antonio record is 75, set by former forward Tim Duncan. - REUTERS
OTHER RESULTS
- Utah 114 Orlando 107, Washington 109 Philadelphia 93, Chicago 107 New Orleans 99, LA Clippers 113 LA Lakers 97.
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