National Basketball Association
Phoenix 108, San Antonio 105
When: 6:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 14, 2017
Where: Mexico City Arena, Mexico City
Officials: #32 Marat Kogut, #3 Nick Buchert, #43 Dan Crawford
Attendance: 20532

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 108-105 on Saturday at Mexico City Arena 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 Phoenix surged from behind, lost the lead and then outlasted the Spurs in the final seconds.

Danny Green missed a 3-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 3-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 on Thursday in the Suns' 113-108 loss to the Dallas Mavericks 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 -- and I think we did."

Eric Bledsoe added 17 points and 10 assists for the Suns (13-27). T.J. Warren hit for 12 points, and Tyson Chandler grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds for Phoenix, which snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Spurs.

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.

Manu Ginobili added 16 points for the Spurs (31-9), while Tony Parker and LaMarcus Aldridge scored 14 and 13 points, respectively. Gasol pulled down 10 rebounds.

The Spurs scored 100 or more points for an 18th consecutive game, their longest streak since 1995.

Phoenix led by as much as seven points in the early minutes and throughout the first half of the first quarter until two free throws by Ginobili at the 6:33 mark tied the game at 13 and began a 6-0 run for San Antonio.

The Suns pulled even at 17 on a tip-in by Bledsoe a minute and a half later, and Alex Len put Phoenix back in front on a dunk with 1:06 to play in the quarter. Parker's driving layup with 15 seconds to play tied the game at 25 at the end of 12 minutes of play.

Parker hit a 3-pointer and a layup in the first 30 seconds of the second quarter to lift San Antonio to the lead at 30-25. A 3-pointer by Kyle Anderson at the 7:05 mark of the period sent the Spurs 44-34 advantage. Two free throws by Booker with 8.4 seconds to play in the half got the Suns back to within 58-51 at intermission.

Leonard led all scorers with 16 points in the first half while Parker had 11 for San Antonio. Bledsoe paced Phoenix with 14 points and Booker added 13 for the Suns.

San Antonio pushed its lead to 81-70 on Jonathon Simmons' 3-pointer at the 1:30 mark of the third quarter, but Phoenix scored 10 of the final 15 points of the quarter to get within 86-80 entering the final period. The Suns continued their run with a 10-1 run to start the fourth quarter, running past the Spurs and setting the stage for their victory.

"It was a game we needed," Tucker said. "It was hard, but we just kept fighting, and that was the difference."

NOTES: Phoenix made NBA history this week as the first team to play two regular-season games in Mexico in the same season. ... Suns G Devin Booker set a franchise record for points in a quarter with 28 in the fourth period (Stephon Marbury, 26). ... The Suns finished with a sizeable 45-33 rebounding advantage. ... Phoenix won despite getting outshot from the floor, 50.7 percent to 45.9 percent.
Top Game Performances
 
San Antonio   Phoenix
Kawhi Leonard 38 Scoring Devin Booker 39
Manu Ginobili 3 Assists Eric Bledsoe 10
Pau Gasol 10 Rebounds Tyson Chandler 15
Kawhi Leonard 12 Free Throws Made Devin Booker 12
Jonathon Simmons 3 Steals P.J Tucker 4
Dewayne Dedmon 1 Blocks N/A
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
San Antonio 105 50.7 9-20 24-34 15 33 1 8 16
Phoenix 108 45.9 8-21 22-24 18 45 0 10 15
Upcoming Games
  • Phoenix will play their next game at home against Utah. The Suns have a W/L % of .154 after a win and .407 after a loss.
  • San Antonio will play their next game at home against Minnesota. The Spurs have a W/L % of .750 after a win and .875 after a loss.