Dan Bickley

azcentral sports

MEXICO CITY – Outside the arena, basketball fans could purchase street tacos and NBA merchandise. It was hard to tell which was more popular.

Inside, Commissioner Adam Silver declared the NBA was in “the golden age of basketball.” And maybe this historic trip to Mexico City will be remembered as the time when Devin Booker and the Suns began their own golden era.

The Suns beat the Spurs 108-105 on Saturday, vanquishing a former nemesis for the first time in 10 games. For too long, one of these teams has been the hammer, the other a roofing nail. Maybe this will mark the rebirth of a great rivalry.

Booker won countless new fans with consecutive 39-point performances, re-establishing himself as one of the NBA’s freshest new stars. He out-dueled Spurs star Kawhi Leonard, who scored 38 points, and will soon be advocating for more games south of the border.

“We embraced the city, the city embraced us,” Suns head coach Earl Watson said. “Devin Booker doesn’t want to leave. He wants to stay here and play Utah here on Monday.”

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This game could be the turning point for a young team that will miss the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season. Watson said the Suns have had a couple of “momentum games” this season, citing a home win against Toronto and the second-half performance in a close loss to LeBron James and the Cavaliers.

“But there are no moral victories,” Watson said. “Coming in tonight, after a tough game against Dallas where they just beat us in everything … you could see our young group grow up and start to believe more.”

The end of the press conference featured a touching moment, when Watson began to get choked up realizing the magnitude of the moment. His mother came for a visit on Wednesday, experiencing Mexico City for the first time. And beating the Spurs on this stage, in the country where his maternal grandparents were born, was almost too much for him to comprehend.

“The Spurs saved my life in a lot of ways,” Watson said. “They took me in at a very fragile time in my life, built me up and sent me off to do something I never thought I could do.”

No matter the outcome, this trip would’ve been a huge success for the Suns from a business and relational standpoint, a team looking to establish deep ties in Mexico. Even if some things seemed to get lost in the translation.

Silver had to shoot down claims of a local businessman who said the Suns have agreed to play six games at Arena Ciudad de Mexico next season. And he gently reminded Mexican fans not to take selfies with players while the game is in progress, as one ticketholder attempted on Thursday, after Suns forward T.J. Warren fell down under the basket.

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Meanwhile, Saturday’s crowd was clearly in favor of the Spurs, a team whose last appearance in Mexico City ended in a game that was cancelled just before tipoff, when acrid smoke filled the arena. There were chants of “defense” when the Suns had the ball. There where chants of “M-V-P” when Leonard went to the free-throw line. Many booed when Booker did the same.

The Suns fought through all of that, earning their best victory of the season, making this trip a smashing success on all fronts.

“We’re seeing beauty in the struggle,” Booker said. “We’re playing really well, and we finally finished out a big game tonight.”

For much of the season, Booker has been good, but not great. Not like he was as a rookie, when he didn’t have to share the ball or the headlines with injured stars like Eric Bledsoe. That seems to be changing for the better.

After the game, a Mexican reporter told Booker he was becoming a local idol, bringing a huge smile to the face of the second-year player.

“I appreciate that,” Booker said. “I have so many dreams when it comes to this game that I’ve had since I was little: NBA champion, All-Star, it all goes on. But I know I just have to take it one day at a time.”

Watson might’ve come of age as well during this trip, morphing from a 37-year old head coach who harped on love and trust to a man who realized that coaching basketball players can be harder than herding cats.

During his stay in Mexico City, Watson admitted he receives frequent coaching pointers from Spurs General Manager R.C. Buford and head coach Gregg Popovich.

Buford recently sat Watson down and stressed the need for having “non-negotiable” rules with his young team. Watson responded by telling his players that if they don’t want to play defense, “they can sit down next to me and we’ll talk about it.”

“R.C. and Pop, they always know exactly when to grab me,” said Watson, who coached for one season in the Spurs organization. “They have perfect timing, their communication is unbelievable, they know how to speak with you and build you up without making you feel threatened. I’m really glad to have those two guys in my basketball life.”

After Thursday’s game, he railed on his young Suns, pushing them through a taxing practice.

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“Changing the culture is not changing the words,” Watson said. “It’s changing the actions.”

And then later: "We can’t make any steps as a program until we get mentally tougher.”

The Suns responded to the tough love on Saturday. Watson ordered the sage move of fouling the Spurs before they could attempt a game-tying 3-point shot near the end of the game, a mistake that once plagued the legacy of Mike D’Antoni in a playoff loss to San Antonio, a game that spelled the end of the last championship-caliber NBA team in Phoenix.

Maybe this game marks the beginning of the next great Suns team, one that’s actually worthy of a banner.

Reach Bickley at dan.bickley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8253. Follow him on twitter.com/dan.bickley. Listen to “Bickley and Marotta” weekdays from 12-2 p.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.