Sometimes the opponent is simply too strong, too steeped in historical success, too mechanical in its domination. Sometimes you just tip your cap to the team with more depth, more athleticism, more speed, more execution, more experience, more consistency (and many more second-chance points).
Those are the reasons that ERA Basketball Nymburk is the champion of the 2024-25 NBL for the 20th time.
Yet, given all of those positives for the champion, on reflection, the second-place team —Basket Brno — deserves a whole lot of praise, too.
“The silver medal is worth its weight in gold for us,” said Brno head coach Martin Vaněk.
Basket Brno lost all four games in the championship series, including Games 3 (77-112) on Sunday and 4 (69-89) on Monday at Arena Vodova in Kralove Pole. But being best-of-the-rest makes the season a resounding success.
“I am really proud of our team,” said Brno captain Viktor Půlpán. “We fought throughout the play-off, played a lot of tough games. We definitely did not go into the series expecting to lose 0-4 – we wanted a more even battle. Unfortunately, the previous series took too much of our strength. Still, I think we definitely did not disgrace ourselves.”
Having been part of the Brno organization through bottom-of-the-standings seasons and a full-organization rebuilding, Vaněk adds: “I’m extremely proud of what we managed to do. For me personally, it was very emotional – I’ve always dreamed of being in the final one day. It was a season like a dream.”
Brno had long struggled in the men’s basketball competition. Support for the foundation of the program has led to a recent up-tick in results: fourth place in 2020-21; third place in 2021-22; and second place in 2022-23.
This second-place finish in 2024-25 shows that the pattern is not a short-term fluke.
Nymburk won Game 1 (97-69) and Game 2 (110-73) in Bohemia last week.
Brno was hampered by injuries in the final two games. Two double-digit scorers — leading scorer Richard Bálint (14.3 points per game) and Dylan Frye (10.0) — were unable to suit up.
“Overall, we had a very challenging play-off, but I think we can be satisfied as a team,” said Brno’s Adam Kejval, who finished Game 4 with nine points. “Unfortunately, we ran out of strength in the final. Nevertheless, we met the highest expectations and we are happy for that – even if the final itself did not turn out as we had hoped.”
Thousands of fans filled Arena Vodova for both final games.
“The support of the fans in the final was a beautiful icing on the cake,” said Půlpán.
Matej Rychtecky led Brno with 16 points in Game 4. Jordan Brown scored a Brno team-high 18 in Game 3.
Basket Brno, with its impressive showing, adds to the burgeoning local sports community, which celebrated the HC Kometa hockey championship last month, which saw Žabiny Brno finish second in women’s basketball, which has a summer ahead with Draci Brno and Hroši Brno competing to return to the baseball title series, and which, on Sunday, saw the end of the football season with local teams FC Zbrojovka (nine-game unbeaten streak) and SK Líšeň (soon to be SK Artis Brno) attracting attention and excitement for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
