Real Madrid vs Darussafaka
Competition: Turkish Airlines Euroleague
Date: 11 October 2018
Time: 20:00 CET
Real Madrid did a great job in the Euroleague last season, as they went on to capture the trophy. But they were not that great in the regular season, as they finished 5th with a W19 L11 record. They were strong as usual at home (W11 L4) and also pretty solid on the road (W8 L7). They suffered quite a scare in the playoffs against Panathinaikos, as they lost the first match by almost 30 points. But they quickly landed on their feet and won the next three matches. They defeated CSKA Moscow in the final four by 83:92, and brushed aside Fenerbahce by 85:80 in the final. However, they lost Luka Doncic in the off-season, who was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA. They also lost Radoncic and Randle, and did very little to improve an already great roster. They brought Klemen Prepelic, Gabriel Deck and Matteo Spagnolo, with none of those players having any real experience in the competition.
On the other hand, Turkish side Darussafaka did not play in the Euroleague last season, but played in the EuroCup instead where they eventually won the trophy. They will now return to the Euroleague, where they did a great job both in 2015/16 (top 16) and in 2016/17 (quarter-finals). Darussafaka made some significant changes in their roster in the off-season, with coach David Blatt leaving for Olympiakos Piraeus. Two of their most experience players, Furkan Aldemir and Scottie Wilbekin also departed, along with Johnson, Bell, Cummings and Sant-Ross. They brought in a Turkish coach, Ahmet Caki, and also some pretty solid players in Ray McCallum (Unicaja Malaga), Markel Brown (Houston Rockets), Jon Diebler (Besiktas) and Jeremy Evans from the NBA Development league.
Previous 5 games:
Real Madrid vs Unicaja Malaga 89:82
Valencia vs Real Madrid 70:88
Real Madrid vs Tenerife 88:73
Real Madrid vs Baskonia 80:73
Xacobeo Blusens vs Real Madrid 61:81
Darussafaka vs Gaziantep 62:63
Anadolu Efes vs Darussafaka 88:68
Torino vs Darussafaka 65:79
Junior Casale vs Darussafaka 62:88
Darussafaka vs Andolu Efes 78:79
Real Madrid vs Darussafaka: Head to Head Stats
The two teams have only met in the 2016/17 season, where they played six matches. They exchanged home wins in the regular season, as Real Madrid won by 101:83 here, bad had lost by 81:68 in Turkey. The two teams met later in the playoffs, where Darussafaka actually won Game 2 in Madrid by 80:84 but eventually lost by 3-1. All in all, Real Madrid have won two of their three matches against Darussafaka at home.
Real Madrid vs Darussafaka: Prediction
Real Madrid have made a dominant start in the new season, winning all five matches in all competitions. They have kept pretty much the same roster as last season, so they do have the form and the team chemistry. Darussafaka made changes in their roster and have only played a single competitive match so far. This does not look good for them.
Real Madrid vs Darussafaka: Betting Tips
Real Madrid are the huge favorites here, and they can easily destroy any opponent at home. They did lose one of their best players (Luka Doncic), but they kept their core intact. Their biggest advantage here will be their strong front-line, as Ayon, Tavares and Randolph will terrorize the opposing bigs. I will take the -14 handicap for Real Madrid on this one @1.90.
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