NBA Games! and the draft & manly sadness

NBA Games, a poor title in the imagination stakes but accurate in that games were played so good job deciding that...

On Friday was the first NBA league match held in Europe, specifically at the O2 in London.  It was really good and from the sound of it Saturday's game was even better.

Unfortunately these games were both won by the New Jersey Nets, the problem was I went into the game only wanting a loss for them while not especially caring that Toronto would be the winners.  These selfish desires stemmed from the Utah Jazz owning New Jersey's draft pick for this year as a result of sending my favourite player (and the name on a shirt on only recently bought!), Deron Williams, to New Jersey.

 :(

More losses means a higher pick in the 2011 NBA Draft and a better likelihood of a good player to get Utah back on track next year.  During the Friday night game Deron started with some poor shooting but in the end did the good stuff and lead New Jersey comfortably to a win.  I found whenever he scored, made someone look stupid with a dribble or did a pass reminiscent of my own skills that I had to applaud and force a smile while also wilting internally as it truly dawned that these things would no longer be happening for Utah.

In the second game I'm sure he was also the main reason for all the win and fun New Jersey had but I only caught the end as I had to be out buying t-shirts while I was still in London.  All in all this was another blast of the pain of seeing Fernando Torres in a Chelsea shirt the week after he fled Liverpool.  Although Fernando said he wanted to leave Liverpool, Deron was traded in fear of him later demanding to leave Utah and so I was still proud when he got the loudest cheer at the start.

It's a lot of hurt for a steely man such as myself.