Yekaterinburg defeated Vladivostok at home, 88–79 (22–24, 26–17, 20–20, 20–18).
Main Story
The first half was a back-and-forth affair. Dynamo has been delighting its fans this season with its fast-paced play. But this time, the Primorye team’s speed wasn’t always enough to overcome the Uralmash defense. Over the course of two quarters, the visitors committed 13 turnovers. This—along with a standout performance by Octavius Ellis (16 points)—proved to be among the key factors that allowed Uralmash to maintain its lead. Anton Yudin’s team went into halftime with a 7-point lead—48–41.
The Clutch Moment
At the start of the final quarter, the foreign players’ skill allowed Dynamo to tie the game at 71–71. But at that moment, Uralmash’s defense kicked into gear. Over the next five minutes, the visitors scored only 2 points (from the free-throw line). Meanwhile, Uralmash regained a comfortable lead—82–73.
In the closing minutes, the Primorye team stepped up their pace and aggression and launched a comeback. But they were never able to catch up to their opponents.
X-Factor
Danilo Tašić is still struggling to find his rhythm this season. But in this game, he became a cornerstone of Uralmash’s system. The Serbian forward led his team in rebounds (10), assists (8), steals (4), efficiency (23), and plus-minus (+23).
Interesting Facts
Uralmash set a new team record for assists this season—27 (third-best in the league this season).
This is only the second time this season that Dynamo has failed to score 80 or more points.
Jalen Blackmon became the third player this season to score more than 30 points in a single game.
Press Conference
Uralmash Head Coach Anton Yudin: – Before the game, I told the guys that the Vladivostok team plays an interesting style of basketball. Yes, they have undersized players at the power forward and center positions, but that just proves once again that intelligence, the will to win, and character are more important than height.
Vladivostok plays fast and relies heavily on individual play. We warned the team about this and prepared for that style of play.
As in previous games, we have stretches of high-quality play on both offense and defense. But then we let our guard down and lose our lead in just a few possessions. We’re constantly working on this issue, though we haven’t always been able to resolve it yet.
Today we had 27 assists—that’s a lot. It could have been 37, because we created good scoring opportunities, but we weren’t able to convert them all. We had plenty of open three-pointers, and down the stretch we missed four shots in a row from right under the basket. Nevertheless, I believe we’re moving in the right direction.
We won the second half by just two points, but in terms of effort, it was much better than the first. I told the team that in the locker room and congratulated the guys on the win.
Dynamo Head Coach Sergei Kozin:
– Congratulations to Uralmash on their victory; they deserved to win. For my part, I want to say that we also played a decent game. At some point, we probably ran out of depth.
We’ve been missing free throws for several games now. Also, in the first half we had 13 turnovers, while in the second half we had only 4. I think that was another key factor.
We fell apart in the second quarter and couldn’t get our act together in time. It seemed like we were making a comeback—at one point the score was tied—but in the fourth quarter we still let Uralmash grab a few easy offensive rebounds and committed some costly turnovers, and that cost us the game.
Top Performers
Uralmash: Octavius Ellis (23), Chris Clemons (15), Timofey Gerasimov (14), Mikhail Kulagin (11), Danilo Tasic (5 + 10 rebounds + 8 assists)
Dynamo: Jalen Blackmon (31), Isaiah Crowley (15 + 7 rebounds), Nate Pollard (14 + 11 rebounds)
Up Next
Uralmash: November 7 at home against MBA
Dynamo: October 27 at home against Avtodor.
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