It's not Lame, it's the 10 days of Christmas - On the fourth days of Christmas...

...the Utah Jazz gave to me, European Vacation.

The Jazz got called to Europe to serve a 2-game mission to spread the NBA gospel in the pre-season.  They went as part of the NBA's EA Europe Live tour which has been going on for a few years now. 

For Jazz fans and NBA fans alike, we finally got our first action of the season.

The Chicago Bulls were joining them for the first game in London as Luol Deng returned home.  I was just hoping that Deron could escape that game without injury.

The game itself was good.  The Bulls had quite a lead in the third quarter until the Jazz started chipping away and finally took the lead late in the fourth.  Paul Millsap ended up missing a crucial free-throw late, giving the Bulls a shot to win the game.  After a miss, the long rebound ricocheted right to rookie James Johnson who quickly put it back up to win the game at the buzzer.

The Jazz then traveled across the Channel to take on Real Madrid.  Confusion abounded when the Jazz arrived here and tried to get in a practice session.  Suicide drills became literal and most keeled over when having to run 5 laps after missing layups.

via upload.wikimedia.org


Anyway, when they finally arrived at the right place, they must not have been too winded as they soundly beat the Real Madrid basketball team, 109-87.

Couldn't wait for them to get state-side and for the rest of the season to begin.

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