CEZ Nymburk reach NBL final

There was little surprise in Czech Basketball on Tuesday as dominant NBL club CEZ Nymburk breezed into the league final with a victory over BK Opava. The clubs have been clashing over a best of five semi-final series, but Nymburk has looked in control throughout and booked its NBL final berth with a 91-80 home win that swept the series 3-0.

There is another semi-final happening between BK Decin and Prostejov, with Decin edging game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the series, Game 4 to come on Thursday.

CEZ Nymburk vs. BK Opava, 91-80
After dominating the semi-final stage, Nymburk punched its ticket to the final with ease and once again the club is the hot favourite for the NBL title. Indeed, a 12th consecutive title seems likely to happen, whichever opponent Nymburk meets in the showpiece game. The hosts took the lead in the opening minute and held it for the remainder of the game, controlling the paint at both ends and ramming home the points to win every quarter.

Petr Benda and Darius Washington both nailed 18 points to lead CEZ Nymburk, while Chester Simmons offered 11 points and Jiri Welsch claimed 10 points and 9 rebounds.

Martin Gniadek and Jakob Sirina both scored 15 apiece to keep Opava in the contest, followed by Jakub Blazek with 13 points.

BK Decin vs. Prostejov, 67-63
Decin edged past Prostejov at home to put a foot in the NBL final, although the club will have to get the job done in Game 4 to make it certain. A high octane first quarter saw both sets of player’s trade buckets, but Decin finally emerged after 10 minutes with a 22-21 lead. In the second frame Prostejov hit back and stopped the home team at 9 points while scoring 16, it was enough to give the visitors a 31-37 lead at the midway point. In the third period Protejov poured further misery on Decin with a 12-19 run that made it 43-56 through thirty minutes.
The hosts looked down and out, but a spirited 24-7 blitz in the final act swung the game and Decin took the win.

Tomas Vyoral doubled up for the winners with 18 points and 12 boards, while Jakob Houska was good for 14 points.

Kamil Svrdlik topped the scoring with 19 points for the losing effort. Roman Marko contributed 12 points and Tomas Mrvis managed 10 points in the loss.