体坛英语新闻：NBA cancels game in Mexico City for smoke accident

MEXICO CITY, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The NBA game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Minnesota Timberwolves in Mexico City was canceled Wednesday night due to the smoke that filled the court.

The NBA league said in a written statement that the game was postponed due to a generator malfunction which produced smoke inside Mexico City Arena.

The game was scheduled to begin at 08:30 pm local time (0230 GMT Thursday) in Mexico City Arena, but the place was filled with smoke an hour before the game.

Witness said around 07:00 pm an explosion was heard in the stadium where the people were desirous of entering the seats, smoke started to come on the court and lights went out in parts of the arena when the players were doing their warm-ups before the game.

So far there are no reports of casualties during the accident and the cause is yet to be determined.

The game will be rescheduled on a date to be determined and played in Minneapolis' Target Center, NBA said. The confirmation came minutes after both teams left the Mexico City Arena on their buses to hotel, as it was considered that there were no conditions to play the match.

This was to have been the second time an NBA regular season game was played in Mexico, after the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks competed in Mexico City in October 1997.