Hradec Králové saw off Olomoucko 93-81 in a Czech NBL fixture on Saturday evening. The visitors finished 12th in the standings but pulled away from the ninth-placed hosts to collect an unlikely victory. The result shifts nothing in the table — both sides sit on zero points after 22 games — but it ended Hradec Králové's streak of narrow defeats.
The match was decided in the opening period. Olomoucko started brighter, hitting their first three-pointer and building a small cushion. And here's the thing: they never recovered from that lead. Hradec Králové kept their side in it through defensive work and a few opportunistic baskets, but the hosts' shooting dipped and the gap widened.
To be fair, the statistics tell a different story than the scoreline. Olomoucko took 33 field goal attempts and made 12, while Hradec Králové managed only eight from 39 shots. The visitors relied on distance — 22 three-point attempts compared to 14 — but made just four apiece from beyond the arc. Chances went begging for both teams, though Hradec Králové's extra volume eventually told.
Rebounding was even, 25 to 24, and turnovers sat at 11 and 10 respectively. What separated the sides was composure in the final minutes. Olomoucko was left flat-footed when Hradec Králové pushed the tempo, and by then the game was already out of reach. Personal fouls also played a part — the hosts committed 11 to the visitors' eight, giving away easy points at the line.
Olomoucko's recent form has been erratic. A 20-0 win against Peja sits alongside losses of 128 points to Newcastle Eagles and 109 to Iraklis Thessaloniki. They were tipped for victory here at 61 per cent confidence, but the match went the other way. Things came to a head in the second half when the hosts stopped finding their range.
Hradec Králové's run of close defeats continued until this one. Their last five games all finished within nine points before Saturday's result. They held a high line on offense, taking more shots and accepting the lower conversion rate. The table goes out of the window in these games, and tonight they proved it.