Vladivostok’s Dynamo defeated Samara on the road, 98–84 (34–23, 20–27, 26–19, 18–15).
Main Story
Expectations for an offensive-minded game were fully met in the first quarter. In 10 minutes, the two teams combined for 57 points. The visitors took the lead early on. The foreign players’ individual skill, dominance on the boards (13–7), and fewer turnovers (4–5) allowed Dynamo to build a double-digit lead—34–23.
In the second quarter, the home team managed to slow down their opponents’ offense. In addition, they made fewer mistakes themselves and hit several three-pointers. All of this led to a comeback by Samara. By halftime, the Volga team’s deficit had been cut to 4 points—50–54.
Down the end
After halftime, Samara managed to catch up to their opponents. But late in the third quarter, the visitors made a decisive run. Accurate shots by Alexander Ershov, Oleg Akramov, and Daquan Smith restored Dynamo’s double-digit lead. And after two successful drives by Maxim Lichutin at the start of the final 10 minutes, the gap between the teams grew to 14 points—84–70. In the remaining time,Vladivostok held onto their lead and secured a confident victory.
X-Factor
The rebounding advantage (50-30) was one of the key factors in the visitors’ success. Dynamo also grabbed 17 offensive rebounds (compared to Samara’s 7), which gave them 10 “extra” possessions.
Interesting Facts
Dynamo secured its first victory in the VTB League.
Daquan Smith set a new season-high with 29 points, while Nate Pollard set records for steals (5) and blocks (4).
Press conference
Miloš Pavičević, head coach of Samara:
– Unfortunately, we lost the battle on the boards today, allowing our opponents to score a lot of second-chance points—both around the basket and on open three-pointers… That decided the outcome of the game. And by the end of the game, we simply had no energy left—especially our starting point guard, Artem Chevarenkov: he could no longer create plays the way he had been doing all game, and our offense stalled—that’s when everything was decided.
We lost the battle, first and foremost, under our own basket: we grabbed 23 rebounds, while our opponent had 17—meaning the visitors grabbed nearly every other rebound. But in the next game, we’ll take the court and give it our all once again. Just like today: everyone gave it their all today; there’s no one to blame—everyone fought hard. But our opponent wasn’t an easy one either: four Americans are four Americans still. Our next opponent is even tougher: UNICS. We’ll try to neutralize Kazan’s strengths and exploit their weaknesses. Whether we’ll succeed—we’ll see. But we’ll give it our all. And we’ll try to delight our fans with a great game. We scored quite a few points today—84—but by giving our opponent second chances, we let in even more. If we’d won the rebound battle, the game would have turned out differently.
Sergey Kozin, head coach of Dynamo:
– I want to congratulate my team and the city of Vladivostok: this first victory—the city deserved it! We’ve been away from home for almost a month, and it’s always nice to come home with a win. We started the game with a more offensive style; we’re still lacking communication and coordination on defense—in the first half, we gave up 50 points, and Samara almost caught up to us.
In the second half, we played with more focus on defense and dominated the boards: 50–30 in rebounds—and, as we all know, whoever wins the rebound battle wins the game. There was a moment in the fourth quarter when Samara could have made a comeback, but we grabbed two or three offensive rebounds, which allowed us to maintain a comfortable lead and secure the victory. It’s never easy to play in Samara with that kind of fan support.
Top Performers
Samara: Andrei Savrasov (20), Dmitry Cheburkin (15), Daniil Pokhodyaev (14 + 5 rebounds), Alexander Petenev (11), Artem Chevarenkov (11 + 8 assists)
Dynamo: Daquan Smith (29 + 7 rebounds), Nate Pollard (18 + 9 rebounds + 5 steals + 4 blocks), Jalen Blackmon (14), Isaiah Crowley (12 + 9 rebounds + 5 assists)
Up Next
Samara: October 7 at home against UNICS
Dynamo: October 14 at home against CSKA.
Condensed Game :
Highlights :
