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Real coming without two best scorers

Llull and Randolph's injuries are going to disrupt Real's offense significantly and that would mean a lot of troubles against the aggressive Darussafaka's defense

Darussafaka are trying to recover today after they were crushed in Vitoria last week. Baskonia killed them and it looked weird that a team of Darussafaka's quality hit only 52 points. Baskonia had 21 rebounds more, so obviously the coach Blatt couldn't do much about it and he was a bit cynical when saying:

- It's hard to win a game where you can't put the ball in the hoop. This is the first game we played this badly this season and there's no excuse for that.

They made up for it in part by winning the road game against Yesilgiresun this weekend. This time they were the ones who killed the opponents' offense, leaving them at 61 points. Moerman was the most efficient player with 24 points and 12 rebounds, and his role will be significant today even more so because Real are coming without Randolph.

- Every Euroleague game is significant. Last week, we played our first really bad game this season and now we want to get back to a winning streak in front of our fans. We had a sold out arena two weeks ago and we're hoping that will be the case today as well because it would really help my team - Blatt claims.

Even if the arena is sold out, the atmosphere won't be a great one because Darussafaka don't have an army of fans like Fenerbahce or Galatasaray do. They lost four home games this season (Fener, Milano, Oly, Efes), and it was a tight game every time. Their best win by far was definitely the one against CSKA (91-83), and that was when the Russians were complete with Teodosić and De Colo.

They have to play like that today, which means they have to match Real physically because that's where the Turks' advantage lies. Their backcourt athleticism (Wannamaker, Anderson, Clyburn) is something Real could really struggle with, especially because they don't have Llull today.

Blatt is a tactical genius and he'll definitely know how to create an ideal team to stand up to the Royal club. Randolph's absence is a big drawback for Real, and that means Moerman will have a lot of space for the rebounds as a four, but also the backcourt shots because Reyes won't have an easy time guarding him.

Llull's absence means more time for Dončić, but the young Slovenian struggled a lot in the road games so far, and we'll see how he reacts to Darussaaka's aggressive defense.

- Darussafaka are a very talented team with lots of great players. It's hard to get a win there, especially because we're going without Llull, Randolph and Thompkins - the coach Laso sounded as if he was already preparing an alibi.

True, his team are very weakened without Llull (18 points and 6 assists) and Randolph (11.4 point and 6.2 rebounds), and they'll have a hard time making up for the two of them today, especially offensively. Darussafaka managed to stop even the best offense in Europe here, the CSKA's, so they'll definitely be able to do that to Real who are coming without two of their best scorers. 

I would go with this even if they played with best teams. Since Real are without two top scorers (Llull and Randolph), this is something we cannot miss out on. Darussafaka are playing a typical Blatt basketball. No one went over 84 here, not even CSKA. Blatt is great at recognizing opponents' shortcomings and taking advantage of them. Also, he has players who can defend anyone in Europe. Real would struggle with the home team even if they were complete. Like this, things get even more difficult for them. Doncic is bad away, Rudy far from top form, Carroll doesn't get more than 20 minutes, Draper, Maciulis and Taylor aren't much use in offense. The same goes for the paint. Real went covered this margin in 7 out of 10 games this season but they were in trouble with proper defenses. Fener limited them to 77, Granca to 76, Barca to 75 points. They went over 100 points only in the strange game with Barca. Dacka's defense is that level and Real don't have two top scorers now so I don't see them going to 80 points.