The NBA conducted their first game in Mexico since 2019 tonight between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. Jimmy Butler led the way for the South Beach squad as he dropped 26 points, with 15 of them coming in the second half en route to a 111-101 victory.
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The Heat haven’t been as dominant as expected this 2022-23 NBA season as they currently boast a record just over .500 with 16-15. Of course, this does have to do with the fact that their 3 best players, Butler, Tyler Herro, and Bam Adebayo have only played 14 games together over a 31 game span.
Butler, who is usually quiet during the regular season, is continuing to showcase that same pattern of productivity as he’s averaging 21.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 5.9 assists a game. While these are solid numbers, they are nowhere near compared to what he’s been doing in the Playoffs over the past 3 years.
Jimmy Butler on eating crickets in Mexico
The Mexico games are a great way to get different cultures to buy into the hype of NBA basketball. Sending Jimmy Butler down there was a great idea given the fact that just one game in he’s already talking about eating crickets.
“I had crickets, and it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t bad. I’m not gonna say I’m going to line up and eat 1000 crickets but I definitely had that,” said Butler. “Next time I come back I’m going to eat even more crickets so I won’t get tired because of the altitude.”
The altitude in the Mexico stadium is at 7,320 feet. In comparison to the highest stadium in the NBA which is in Denver that stands at 5,280 feet.
How games have been played in Mexico?
There have been a total of 31 NBA games played in Mexico since this concept’s inception in 1992 when the Houston Rockets played against the Dallas Mavericks in a preseason game. Most recently, 2019 was when Mexico hosted any NBA action.
4 teams: the Spurs, Suns, Pistons, and Mavericks played games in Mexico City in 2019.
