Called because of smoke: Wolves try playing in Mexico again

MEXICO CITY – The Timberwolves flew on Monday to Mexico City, returning there to grow the NBA's brand by participating this week in an open practice/clinic and corporate-partners' reception 11 months after they last visited.

They might even play a basketball game this time.

"That'd be great," Wolves veteran guard Kevin Martin said.

Last December, the Wolves traveled 1,800 miles away from Target Center to play a "home" game against the San Antonio Spurs that was postponed and never played at the modern, glass-encased Mexico City Arena after acrid smoke caused by a generator fire clouded the court a little more than an hour before the opening tip.

This time, they're back to play the Houston Rockets in a 9 p.m. Wednesday game on ESPN that also counts as one of their 41 home dates.

Smoke seeped into the arena that night last winter while players warmed up. It eventually filled the air, setting off alarms in the locker rooms and corridors that drove players and workers out into parking lots and into the night just as 22,500 fans arrived for a sold-out event.

"I was shooting, then I went to the locker room and suddenly they came to the locker room and said we had to leave the arena," Wolves point guard Ricky Rubio said. "I thought it was a joke, but it was serious."

It was serious enough that doctors from both teams insisted players not be allowed to play even after the fire was contained and the smoke started to dissipate. Concerned about what chemicals and residue might linger in the air, Wolves and Spurs executives shuttled back and forth, from a loading dock outside where coaches and players mingled in the dark for more than an hour, then into the arena and back out again.

"All I can remember about that night is the smoke in the arena," said Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders, who this season is also the team's coach. "I took pictures."

In consultation with NBA officials back in New York City, the game was called off after Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and then-Wolves coach Rick Adelman remained adamant their teams would not play that night, no matter how long anyone waited for the smoke to subside.

A San Antonio beat reporter in the arena when smoke billowed in coughed his way all the way back to his hotel during a 40-minute van ride afterward.

"I'll tell you in about 10 years probably," Saunders said, when asked if he inhaled anything dangerous that night.

Alternatives — such as trying to play the next night — were considered and refused before the game was postponed, eventually rescheduled and played four months later at Target Center in a game the Wolves won easily.

Fans were excited

Saunders recalled the excitement of fans who lined the streets as the Wolves bus made its way to the arena more than two hours before the game. Those streets also were thick with vendors who set up sidewalk stands and hawked what surely must have been all NBA-licensed apparel, and just about all of it was Spurs' black-and-silver merchandise.

The Wolves went to Mexico City a year ago willing to sacrifice one night's home-court advantage for a guaranteed $750,000 payday from the league. The NBA sought out the Wolves because, like the Spurs, their roster had a large representation of international players, including Spanish-speaking Rubio and J.J. Barea.

At a youth clinic the day before, Rubio clowned around with participating children, having a splendid time. Barea was popular that day as well, surrounded by so many media members that Adelman commented, in a wry reference to Barea's small stature, you couldn't see him. At the time, Barea called the Mexican fans "my side, we're Latinos."

"Speaking Spanish always helps," Rubio said. "We did the clinic the day before and I feel like I could talk to them. Our other guys were trying to talk to them and the kids didn't understand them. It was fun, it was a fun trip. The NBA is doing a great job trying to be global. Going to Mexico, I could speak Spanish so it was great for me, but it was great for all of us, to see how big the NBA is [internationally], how many fans, just supporting us. It was a shame we couldn't play."

Eleven months later, Barea has been released and is back playing in Dallas. Rubio awaited Wednesday's chance to finally play in Mexico, then badly sprained an ankle Friday in Orlando and flew home from Miami on Monday to let it heal while his teammates traveled on to Mexico.

"It was a crazy night, something we're always going to remember," Rubio said last week before he was injured. "I hope we can go back and have a good memory."

Growing the brand

The Wolves agreed to return partly because the NBA sweetened last year's payday — which the team pocketed for a game never played — and perhaps because Wolves owner Glen Taylor, recently elected again as chairman of the Board of Governors, has said it's part of his responsibility to help grow the league's $5.5 billion business globally.

NBA teams played preseason games on three continents — Europe, Asia, South America — this fall and New York plays Milwaukee in another international regular-season game, in London, come January.

None of those games presumably will be remembered like the night that never was.

"Definitely strange, strangest night of my career," Martin said. "Hopefully we get to play in front of them this time because those fans are passionate."

As strange as it was, Saunders claims he has seen stranger.

"Remember, I was in the CBA, so I've seen a lot of strange nights," Saunders said, referring to pro basketball's minor leagues. "I don't even know if this makes my top 20, but it's up there."