Hello again Eurocup fans! We are in the middle of the crucial part of the Eurocup season and I am here to share my insights on that with you. At the end of the Top 16, we finished with a big win in France at Gravelines, but had to wait anxiously for the outcome of the other game in our group between Riga and Valencia to learn our fate. Fortunately for us, Valencia finished the group with a perfect record and thus helped us advance to the Eurocup Quarterfinals. It had been our goal to reach the quarterfinals, but once we got here, we told ourselves that it did not have to end.

We were about to face Spartak St. Petersburg and with all due respect to our impressive opponent, we believed that we had a chance. And the first half of the first game helped us believe even more, since the game was really close. The problems started for us after the halftime break, when St. Petersburg pulled out their biggest weapon – aggressive defense. Their defense kept our team scoreless for long stretches of the third quarter. Unfortunately I was not able to help my teammates on the floor at that time, because I was sidelined with a twisted ankle. That occurred when I landed on another player’s foot two minutes before halftime. Maybe it is different for others, but I always feel more nervous when I am on the bench and cannot play. Somehow when I am playing my nervous energy disappears or transforms into playing energy. So you can imagine how bad I felt not being able to help. The important thing is that not one of our players gave up when times were tough... more

Hello, Eurocup fans! Since we are heading towards the decisive part of the Last 16 phase of this year's Eurocup season, I could not deny you the chance to read my exclusive thoughts (-;

Last time I wrote a blog, we were perfect so far in our Group I, but we were still about to face Valencia of Spain twice in a row. Unfortunately, neither of those games ended for us as we had hoped. Not that we have anything to be ashamed of, either. Both games followed similar scenarios, as we fell behind early in each, only to come back in the second half. At the away game, we were really close to taking the game to overtime after our three-point basket with 6 seconds left tied the game. As luck would have it, we did not manage to make a defensive stop and therefore went all the way home with the worst possible kind of loss - by just one point.

So after a break in the schedule, we come to Week 5 and what is another decisive game for us. We faced the same situation in the regular season with a home game against Aris of Greece, where we needed a win to advance, and we got it. Now we have to do it again here in the Last 16 on Tuesday, as we host Riga of Latvia. As the situation stands, it is pretty much do or die for us, and speaking for myself, I really like it that way! In this situation, you do not have to look at the other teams or how they do; you just need to focus on the job at hand. And for us, that job is to defend our home arena and take nothing else but a win.

At first sight, the game might look easy, as we were able to beat Riga at their home court in the opening game of the Last... more

Eurocup fans! This is Pavel Pumprla from CEZ Basketball Nymburk, again. Last time I wrote a blog, we were about to start this Last 16 phase of the Eurocup and I was full of expectations about what might come with another group and another set of opponents. Now, shortly before Game 3 of the group, we pretty much know where we stand, so let me share some of my thoughts with you.

In the first two games, we could not do much better. In the first game, we surprised VEF Riga at their home court in Latvia and took away a win. We also held strong in the second game, which was at home against French League leaders Gravelines. As you know, since it is very tough to get three wins from the first two games (ha ha), we are really satisfied what we did so far. But even though I would very much like to say that the group is over, it is still in the kingdom of far, far away.

First, we still have not met what is probably the toughest opponent in the group, the team from the same 2-0 record as ours, Valencia. I dont think anything more needs to be said. Any team from Spain is usually a threat, and when is it team traditionally sitting among the top spots in the Spanish League, we need to give respect, although not the kind of respect that would stop you from going on the court ready to win. No, it should be the kind of respect that helps you to get motivated, the one that tells you, Okay, here we are standing against this great team, lets show them we are not bad, either.' And that is what we will try to do.

Everyone who ever played some sport in such a small group as this knows that it is very risky to leave everything to be decided for the last game. So... more

Hello Eurocup fans,
This is Pavel Pumprla from Nymburk and I am glad to be back. Thanks to our great start to the Eurocup regular season, we were able to hold on to the first spot even after the last game and are fully loaded for the Last 16 stage…

When I look at the group we have now, we pretty much got what we expected and we are sure that from the beginning it will not be anything easy. First there is French team of Gravelines, which is playing very well and keeps surprising not only in the French League, where they are still up in the first spot, but also in Europe, as they lost only the last game of the regular season. Then there is Valencia of Spain, a team that does not need an introduction. Just to hear the name rings a bell of recent Euroleague presence and Eurocup-winning seasons. And last, but surely not least, to us well-known VEF Riga, a team we also met last season in the Eurocup and a team that seems to get better every season.

But let me say one thing, we are also getting better every season :). Certainly, we have the greatest respect for our opponents, but we did not come to lay our guns on the floor and let the others take the prize. We came to fight and that is exactly what our opponents should expect.

On Wednesday we play our... more

Hey Eurocup fans, hello again from Pavel Pumprla in Nymburk, Czech Republic. Before I started to write this post, I had to check our group standings to make sure that we really are doing so well :)

Yes, we really started off in the best way we could. After the first game and a road win on a hot Aris floor, we had to get ready for a first game in front of our home crowd. To tell you the truth, in recent seasons, there have not been many games where we were considered a favorite; we were used to being an underdog in most games and used that situation to our advantage as we kept surprising our opponents. But this first home game of the 2011-2012 Eurocup season was something else. Our opponent from Groningen lost their first game at home, so we were considered a huge favorite. Nobody expected from us anything but an easy win. But unfortunately, it does not work like that in sports. Sometimes there is a huge difference between the predictions and what actually happens on the court.

So from the beginning of the game we had a tough job as we fell behind early. Fortunately for us, we were able to come back before halftime and the final score shows that it was after all an easy game, but that might be true only for the last quarter. Still we got our second win of the season and a good lesson as well. I think we all realized that it does not matter whether we are outsiders or favorites, every game we have to prove our power on the floor.

With that in mind we left for our third game in the Eurocup regular season and our second road game, this time in Rudupis, Lithuania. Rudupis was the last... more

Hi, this is Pavel Pumprla, a small forward for CEZ Basketball Nymburk. I have been given this great opportunity to write a blog for Eurocupbasketball.com, so I will try to share with you my view and insights on this Eurocup season. First let me take you to Nymburk's recent history. This season is a fifth in a row for Nymburk to participate in the second best European club competition; for me personally, it is my third Eurocup season. Two years ago, we were just few points away from reaching Eurocup Finals when we split wins with Bilbao in the previous phase, but a few points of difference between us stopped our team there. Last season, we made it again into the Last 16, but there we came up short as we finished last in the group.

At the beginning of this season, we were given a chance to play in the Euroeague Qualifying Rounds that took place in Charleroi, Belgium. No one was giving us much respect. Everyone thought of us as outsiders. But at tournaments like this, when you play three games in three days, still at the very beginning of the season, anything can happen. So what happened was that we surprised everybody and beat not only Banvit of Turkey in the first game, but also a Russian powerhouse BC Khimki, filled with big names and thus the biggest favorite of the whole tournament, in the second game. But there was still one game left to win to reach the Euroleague, and in that we faced the home team, Charleroi. As I mentioned, it was our third game in just three days and, unfortunately, that proved fatal for us. We gave the game away too easily.

So here we are again, in the Eurocup. Before I get... more